Barclay Morrison III

PROFESSOR OF BIOMEDICAL ENGINEERING; VICE DEAN OF UNDERGRADUATE PROGRAMS, FU FOUNDATION SCHOOL OF ENGINEERING AND APPLIED SCIENCE

351 Engineering Terrace
Mail Code 8904

Tel(212) 854-6277
Fax(212) 854-8725

Barclay Morrison and his laboratory study the biomechanics of brain injuries from common occurrences like motor vehicle accidents, falls, and sports-related concussions to reduce their socioeconomic toll by developing better safety systems to prevent injuries and understanding the pathobiology to better treat brain injuries.

Research Interests

Mechanical injury of the central nervous system: universal tissue tolerance criteria, role of the cytoskeleton in injury, application of genomic and proteomic technologies to mechanotransduction, , repair strategies using stem cells, electrode design for neural engineering.

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) results in approximately 50,000 deaths and 85,000 permanently disabled persons per year in the United States with an estimated primary care cost of $76 billion per year. The clinical situation is quite dire as there are no drug treatments which target the underlying pathobiology of TBI. This profound need for improvements in the prevention and treatment of TBI is the driving force behind Morrison’s research. The long-term goal of his laboratory is to understand the consequences of mechanical forces on the most complex system of the human body, the brain, and to develop strategies to mitigate and perhaps reverse these injurious effects. His research explores the specific cellular, molecular, and metabolic effects of injury on brain cells in response to precisely controlled biomechanical stimuli. His research program has three main focus areas:

  1. Improvement of prevention strategies through development of critical biomechanical data for the living brain
  2. Identification of novel treatment options by understanding the post-traumatic pathobiology in greater detail
  3. Engineering new research tools to enhance studies in the first two areas

Morrison received a BS in biomedical engineering from Johns Hopkins University in 1992 and a MSE and PhD in bioengineering from the University of Pennsylvania in 1994 and 1999, respectively. 

RESEARCH EXPERIENCE

  • Post-doctoral fellow, Department of Neurosurgery, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1999-1999
  • Post-doctoral Fellow, Clinical Neurosciences Department, Southampton University, UK, 2000-2002

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE

  • Professor of biomedical engineering, Columbia University, NY, 2016 –
  • Vice dean of Undergraduate Programs, Columbia Engineering, Columbia University, NY, 2014 –
  • Associate professor of biomedical engineering, Columbia University, NY, 2012-2016
  • Vice chair of biomedical engineering, Columbia University, NY, 2012-2014
  • Associate professor (untenured) of biomedical engineering, Columbia University, NY, 2008-2012
  • Director, Neurotrauma and Repair Laboratory, Columbia University, NY, 2004
  • Assistant professor of biomedical engineering, Columbia University, NY, 2003-2008

PROFESSIONAL AFFILIATIONS

  • Biomedical Engineering Society
  • Engineering in Medicine and Biology Society
  • National Neurotrauma Society
  • American Society of Mechanical Engineers
  • Board of Directors, Football Research, Inc., NY, 2016 –
  • Associate editor, Journal of Neurotrauma, 2016 –
  • Vice president, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, 2015 –
  • Scientific Advisory Board member, Center for Injury Epidemiology and Prevention at Columbia University Medical Center, NY, 2015 –
  • Membership & Awards committee, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, 2014-2016
  • Publications committee, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, 2012-2015
  • Council member, International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, 2012 –
  • Associate editor, Journal of Biomechanical Engineering, 2012 –     
  • Review editor, Frontiers in Neurotrauma, 2011, 2012
  • Associate editor, BMC Neuroscience, 2010 – 2013
  • Advisory Board member, Engineering Conferences International, 2006-2013

HONORS & AWARDS

  • Ashton Fellowship, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA, 1993-1997
  • The S.R. Pollack Award for Excellence in Graduate Bioengineering Research, University of Pennsylvania, 1999
  • Biomedical Engineering Society Graduate Student Research Award, 1999
  • First Place, National Neurotrauma Society Student Competition, 1999
  • Biomedical Engineering Society Travel Award, 1999
  • National Neurotrauma Society Travel Award, 1999
  • Richard Skalak Best Paper Award in the Journal of Biomechanical Engineering for 2000
  • John Paul Stapp Best Paper Award in the Stapp Car Crash Journal for 2003
  • The Kim Award for Student-Faculty Involvement, Columbia Engineering, 2006
  • Invited speaker, annual National Neurotrauma Symposium, 2006
  • Keynote speaker, annual meeting of the International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, 2009
  • Invited speaker, annual National Neurotrauma Symposium, 2010
  • Cover image, Journal of Neurotrauma for Hue, C.D., Cao, S., Haider, S.F., Vo, K. V., Effgen, G.B., Vogel, E.W., Panzer, M.B., Bass, C.R., Meaney, D.F., Morrison III, B., Blood-brain barrier dysfunction after primary blast injury in vitro, J. Neurotrauma, 2013, 30: 1652-1663.
  • Elected Vice President of the International Research Council on Biomechanics of Injury, 2015 – 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS

  •  (RSC) *Vogel III, E.W., Rwema, S.H., Meaney, D.F., Bass, C.R., Morrison III, B. Primary blast injury depressed hippocampal long-term potentiation through disruption of synaptic proteins. J. Neurotrauma, 2017, 34: 1063-73.
  • (RSC) *Vogel III, E.W., Morales, F.N., Meaney, D.F., Bass, C.R., and Morrison III, B., Phosphodiesterase-4 inhibition restored hippocampal long term potentiation after primary blast. Experimental Neurology, 2017, 293: p. 91-100.
  • (RSC) *Lamprecht, M.R., Elkin, B.S., Kesavabhotla, K., Crary, J.F., Raghupathi, R., Morrison III, B. Correlation of genome-wide expression after traumatic brain injury in vitro and in vivo implicates a role for SORLA. J.Neurotrauma, 2017, 34: 97-108.
  • (RSC) Hu, F., Lamprecht, M.R., Wei, L., Morrison III, B., and Min, W., Bioorthogonal chemical imaging of metabolic activities in live mammalian hippocampal tissues with stimulated raman scattering. Scientific reports, 2016, 6: p. 39660.
  • (RS) *Effgen, G.B. and Morrison III, B., Memantine reduced cell death, astrogliosis, and functional deficits in an in vitro model of repetitive mild traumatic brain injury. J.Neurotrauma, 2017, 34: 934-42.
  • (RS) *Effgen, G.B. and Morrison III, B., Electrophysiological and pathological characterization of the period of heightened vulnerability to repetitive injury in an in vitro stretch model. J.Neurotrauma., 2017, 34: 914-24.
  • (RSC) *Vogel III, E.W., Effgen, G.B., Patel, T.P., Meaney, D.F., Bass, C.R., Morrison III, B. Isolated primary blast inhibits long-term potentiation in organotypic hippocampal slice cultures. J.Neurotrauma, 2016, 33:652-61.
  • (RSC) *Hue, C.D., Cho, F.S., Cao, S., Nicholls, R.E., Vogel III, E.W., Sibindi C., Arancio O., Bass C.R., Meaney D.F., Morrison III B. Time course and size of blood-brain barrier opening in a mouse model of blast-induced traumatic brain injury. J.Neurotrauma, 2016, 33: 1202-11.
  • (RSC) *Effgen, G.B., Ong, T., Nammalwar, S., Ortuno, A.I., Meaney, D.F., Bass, C.R., Morrison III, B. Primary blast exposure increases hippocampal vulnerability to subsequent exposure reducing long-term potentiation. J.Neurotrauma, 2016, 33: 1901-12.
  • (RSPC) *Finan, J.D., Cho, F.S., Kernie, S.G., Morrison III, B. Intracerebroventricular administration of chondroitinase ABC reduces acute edema after traumatic brain injury. BMC Research Notes, 2016, 9: 160.