Understanding and Controlling Neuroinflammation after Traumatic Brain Injury

Wednesday, April 15, 2026

2:30 PM-4:00 PM

BIOMED Seminar

Title:
Understanding and Controlling Neuroinflammation after Traumatic Brain Injury

Speaker:
Kate Wofford, PhD
Assistant Professor of Neurosurgery
Perelman School of Medicine 
University of Pennsylvania

Details:
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) affects millions of individuals each year and leads to disrupted neuronal circuitry, neurological deficits, and neuroinflammation. Injury biomechanics critically shape the extent and nature of damage to nervous system tissue. Following injury, resident and peripheral immune cells respond to damaged neurons and can drive chronic neuroinflammation and progressive neuropathology.  

Dr. Wofford’s research focuses on understanding and modulating these neuro-immune interactions as a therapeutic strategy for TBI. In this seminar, she will discuss recent experiments examining injury biomechanics, neuropathological outcomes, and neuro-immune responses in an advanced translational model of TBI.

Biosketch:
Kate Wofford, PhD, completed her PhD in Biomedical Engineering at Drexel University, where she developed a cellular therapy platform to control inflammation. Thereafter, Dr. Wofford completed a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Pennsylvania, where she characterized injury kinematics, neuropathology, and inflammation associated with traumatic brain injury. She is now an Assistant Professor in Neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania, where she uses advanced preclinical models to understand and control interactions between the damaged nervous system and the immune system.  

Dr. Wofford's work has been recognized with receipt of multiple awards including the K99/R00 Career Development Award, F32 National Research Service Award, Koerner Award, Outstanding Scholar in Neuroscience Award, Interdisciplinary Collaboration and Research Excellence Fellowship, Anthony Marmarou Award, Sanjeev Kumar Memorial Award, and the Wan Shih Translational Research Award.

Contact Information

Carolyn Riley
cr63@drexel.edu