The Finan lab uses human in vitro modeling of traumatic brain injury (TBI) to better understand and treat this common, devestating, and untreatable condition. These models can address critical questions such as how TBI accelerates neurodegeneration, why it affects some patients much more than others, and which medicines are most likely to benefit which patients. We design and build machines to stretch and crush human neural cell cultures in ways that mimic the deformation of the brain during a real TBI event. We also design and build machines to acquire data from human in vitro cultures in new and powerful ways.