Dr. Baker’s research laboratory focuses on understanding the pathophysiology of traumatic brain injury and investigates therapeutic approaches to improve outcome. The lab has numerous ongoing research streams. These include the development and use of a model of low-intensity shockwave exposure to understand the effects of blast on the brain, investigations into the pathophysiological response of the blood brain barrier to modelled brain trauma and cellular mechanisms contributing to cerebral vascular dysfunction after trauma, the use of various stem cells as a treatment for traumatic brain injury, and development of zebrafish models of traumatic brain injury for medium and high throughput screening of therapeutic compounds. The lab employs a range of scientific tools and techniques using both in vivo and in vitro systems. The lab has personnel with extensive expertise in small animal surgery and physiology, microscopy, immunohistochemistry, protein analysis, electrophysiology, cell culturing and model development.
