A New Model for Blast Brain Injury

The scientific and mechanical foundation of the project was built over several years through student-led projects. 

Early ground was broken during two undergraduate capstone Major Qualifying Projects, where student teams engineered methods to stretch neurons inside living microscopic roundworms (the widely studied lab model Caenorhabditis elegans) or expose them to pressure blasts, recording changes in how they respond. These 1-millimeter-long animals are powerful neuroscience models: Their nervous systems share genes, neurotransmitters, and signaling pathways with mammals, but contain only 302 neurons, compared to human billions. 

Building on this, the doctoral research of Hamilton White, PhD ’23, established methods to study neural and behavioral deficits after mechanical trauma. White showed that sensory neurons lose sensitivity within minutes and unmanaged injuries mostly led to permanent degeneration. However, blocking a force-sensitive TRP (transient receptor potential) ion channel with a drug or genetic modification increased neural recovery to over 90%, mirroring improvements seen in mice. 

Albrecht, White, and PhD student Fox Avery, MS ’24, faced a design challenge: delivering fast, explosive pressure patterns to microscopic organisms. While testing automated air valves, they also developed a simple system driven by a spring-loaded pinball plunger. As an undergraduate, Daniel Holtz ’24 proved the manual device generated remarkably consistent, realistic shock waves like those observed in larger brains. Across over 500 repeats, the setup maintained millisecond precision with little variation in peak pressure. 

“Students were involved from the start: designing hardware, running experiments, and verifying that pulses were truly reproducible,” Albrecht says. “It is a great example of how simple engineering and repurposed parts can tackle complex biological questions.” 

Investigating blast trauma typically requires large shock tubes or heavy metal pressure vessels that prevent looking directly at cells during the moment of impact. 

By miniaturizing the blast into a chamber just millimeters wide, Albrecht’s lab bypassed this barrier entirely. Because the surface area is so small, the total force on chamber walls remains low even at extreme pressures. The team safely applied over 120 psi (four times that in a car tire) inside devices mounted directly on standard glass microscope slides. This keeps experiments safe for an open benchtop while unlocking an unprecedented capability: visual, noncontact recording from neurons during and immediately following blasts. 

Over the next three years, the lab will systematically characterize how pressure characteristics and repetition affect neural circuits and animal behavior. The team will test interventions targeting secondary injury cascades, including oxidative stress, inflammation, and neural hyperactivity. Clinical advisors Dr. Nils Henninger (UMass Chan Medical School) and Dr. Kacper Pierwola (Lancaster Rehabilitation Hospital) will help ensure the findings align with human pathology. 

The award will support authentic research experiences for about a dozen undergraduates working alongside graduate mentors, embodying WPI’s “Theory and Practice” (Lehr und Kunst) motto.

“Undergraduates at WPI don’t just observe science, they build the instruments, run trials, and co-author findings,” says Albrecht. “By giving students ownership of real-world challenges, we prepare them for biomedical careers while advancing discoveries to help patients heal from brain trauma.”