Credit: Cell Reports Methods (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2025.101213

Four University of Rhode Island researchers have developed and tested a cost-effective, easy-to-use tabletop device that can generate pressure waves, mimicking the impact of blasts that can cause neurodegeneration. Their study was recently published in the journal Cell Reports Methods. The results will help URI’s Claudia Fallini and Riccardo Sirtori better study the development and progression of neurodegenerative diseases in their lab.

An associate professor in URI’s College of the Environment and Life Sciences, Fallini’s work focuses on the cellular and molecular mechanisms leading to neurodegenerative disease, including amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, frontotemporal dementia and Alzheimer’s disease. Using stem cell cultures, Fallini studies human disease in a dish, with Sirtori a postdoctoral fellow.

They hope to create a foundation for the in vitro study of traumatic brain injury (TBI), a risk factor for neurodegenerative diseases. By better understanding the processes that contribute to these conditions, Fallini and Sirtori hope to identify mechanisms that could be targeted for therapeutic intervention.

While animal models of TBI are commonly used, emerging research suggests that induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived brain organoids offer a promising human-specific alternative. Widespread use has been limited, because the equipment required is expensive and specialized.

TBI impact

Traumatic brain injury is a major cause of death and disability, affecting more than 65 million people around the world annually. Epidemiological and experimental evidence suggest that impact or blast TBI is one of the leading environmental risk factors for neurodegeneration. A single moderate-to-severe TBI quadruples a person’s risk of developing dementia.

TBI can affect people of all ages, but some groups—military service members, veterans, and the elderly—have a greater risk of experiencing TBI and suffering long-term negative health outcomes.

Fallini says she had been looking for ways to model TBI in vitro, without animal use, but the methods described in the literature were convoluted or required expensive or specialized equipment, making initial investment too costly.

She and Sirtori set out to see whether the mechanical injury delivered through an engineered device could approximate the long-term effects of pressure wave exposure. But they had difficulty simulating traumatic injury from blasts in their lab using commercially available apparatus appropriate for biological applications.

Benchtop blast simulator. Credit: Cell Reports Methods (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2025.101213

URI brain power

The two connected with Arun Shukla and Akash Pandey in URI’s College of Engineering. An expert in blast mitigation, Shukla consults frequently with the U.S. Navy, while Ph.D. candidate Pandey helps develop materials that can sustain underwater blasts.

To help their colleagues in URI’s Department of Cell and Molecular Biology, Pandey and Shukla needed to create a blast on land—ideally on a table. The two were up for the challenge and first-time collaboration.

Pandey pursued the project during the summer of 2024. The design, realization, and calibration of the shock-loading device took about one month, and required some scaling down. While the Shukla lab performs shock-loading experiments on a daily basis, its resident apparatus was too massive for biology experiments. So, Pandey created a miniaturized 3m-long water-filled shock tube apparatus and benchtop simulator for his colleagues’ TBI study. Sirtori designed the study and carried out the biologic experiments.

Fallini credits Sirtori and Pandey with driving the project forward, bringing together their perspectives and skills in cell biology and engineering to come up with a simple design that was easy to build and implement. The resulting blast simulator uses low-cost, accessible components—PVC pipe, aluminum, and popsicle sticks—which can deliver reproducible pressure waves to 3D organoids for assessment. The pressure-loading simulator is portable and easy to use, generating high pressure pulses that mimic the pressure load experienced during a blast injury TBI.

In their prototype, test organoids were exposed to a blast wave for less than 1 millisecond—100 times faster than the blink of an eye. That brief exposure was sufficient to induce severe damage to several cellular structures, which could lead to functional decline and neurodegeneration. The type of injury the team modeled is similar to a blast from an IED or a fired weapon.

Fallini says the URI-created tool offers a standardized, reproducible and customizable alternative in TBI research. She also appreciated the chance to see another side of her academic study. “It was interesting to see the type of research they are doing on blast impact in Dr. Shukla’s lab,” she says, “a very different angle on the same important issue.”

The device has already given her team insight into the impact of blast injuries, including that deep-layer cortical neurons are more susceptible to blast exposure than upper-layer neurons. With the results of such testing, Fallini and Sirtori will now be able to better assess for DNA damage after traumatic brain injury. “This is a valuable, accessible tool to advance research in this area,” Fallini says.

More information: Riccardo Sirtori et al, A tabletop blast device for the study of the long-term consequences of traumatic brain injury on brain organoids, Cell Reports Methods (2025). DOI: 10.1016/j.crmeth.2025.101213

Citation: Tabletop blast device brings traumatic brain injury research to the lab bench (2025, November 11) retrieved 11 November 2025 from https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-11-tabletop-blast-device-traumatic-brain.html

This document is subject to copyright. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study or research, no part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.