According to the Philly Voice, a new blood test has been developed at Temple University that could lead to more timely and accurate diagnoses of concussions and traumatic brain injuries. The blood test’s developers Dr. Servio Ramirez and Dr. Yuri Persidsky have been awarded $700,000 by the University City Science Center to further hone the test and prepare it for use in various fields.
Ramirez and Persidsky’s test relies on the fact that brain injuries cause microscopic changes to cells inside the brains’ blood vessels. Those changes include vesicles (liquid filled structures found within cells) being released from their cells (thus becoming extracellular vesicles or EVs).