OMRF receives $2.3M to map mitochondria’s role in Alzheimer’s and traumatic brain injury

The Oklahoma Medical Research Foundation, an independent nonprofit institution, has announced a $2.3 million, five-year grant from National Institutes of Health to probe how mitochondria function inside brain cells and how they contribute to the development of neurodegenerative disease. The initiative will examine how different mitochondrial types generate energy, communicate, and support—or compromise—cell survival. Using high-resolution imaging and advanced protein analysis, the research will target Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s diseases as well as traumatic brain injury, where damaged neurons don’t regenerate. The effort aims to identify how mitochondria differentiate processes withi the goal of identifying future therapies to protect or even restore brain function.