Ina B.Wanner, PhD

Semel Institute for Neuroscience & Human Behavior
IDDRC, 635 Charles E. Young Drive South
NRB, Rm 260J Lab 304 A/B,
David Geffen School of Medicine, UCLA
Los Angeles, CA 90095-7332
Phone: 310 825 8847; alt: 310 463 8493
Fax:310 2065050

Dr. Wanner is a faculty member at the Intellectual and Developmental Disability Research Center (IDDRC) within the Semel Institute for Neuroscience and Human Behavior. She is actively involved in the Brain Injury Research Center (BIRC) and serves as Principal Investigator for the Translational Outcomes Project in Neurotrauma (TOP-NT) Consortium. Additionally, Dr. Wanner leads biomarker working groups in the PRE Clinical Interagency reSearch resourcE - Traumatic Brain Injury (PRECISE) and the NIH Posttraumatic epilepsy (PTE) initiatives on Common Data Elements (CDEs) promoting harmonization in neurotrauma research.

Dr. Wanner has made significant contributions to translational research through the discovery of diagnostic neurotrauma biomarkers, the development of innovative culture trauma models, and the creation of advanced microscopy and unbiased image analysis techniques. Her interdisciplinary approach connects researchers across domains, fostering multi-modal research. Her enthusiasm inspires students and unites experts to bridge the gap between preclinical and clinical understanding of brain and spinal cord injuries.

Collaborations: A signature of Dr. Wanner’s scientific career has been her initiation and successful lead of interdisciplinary collaborations with chemists, neuro-radiologists, aeromedical engineers and clinicians in Italy, Canada, in the UK and in the US.

Research: Dr. Wanner’s translational research goal is a deeper understanding of cellular injury mechanisms to improve diagnosis and recovery of patients with traumatic spinal cord or brain injuries. Her present research focuses on injury responses of astrocytes, the caretakers of nerve cells, to traumatic injuries. The Wanner team discovered large-scale protein release into fluids from metabolically compromised cells and identified signatures of wounded and dying astrocytes after traumatic injury (Published Patent application: “Traumatome and Neurotrauma biomarkers” (WIPO patentscope link). Dr. Wanner and her team selected novel biomarkers and documented the markers’ diagnostic potential for patients with traumatic brain injury (TBI) and concussions even in the absence of visible wounds on CAT scans (see Publications). The Wanner team and partners Drs. Kuluz and Mayer & Meier detected brain injuries in serum samples of children and athletes with concussions. With her novel biomarkers the Wanner team recently achieved predicting recovery from paralysis after swine spinal cord injury just minutes after the contusion. Dr. Wanner pursues a unique translational approach going from bench to bedside by taking laboratory discoveries to develop clinical diagnostic tools. She also applies clinically useful markers to improve preclinical studies and hopes to continue to push the boundaries of translational science in the future to help neurotrauma patients on their recovery journey.