Inside HOKIE SPORTS | Vol. 10 No. 5 | May 2018

44 Inside Hokie Sports 300 Technology Drive Christiansburg, Virginia 24073 www.inorganicventures.com European distribution center located in Santander, Spain Two of our PhDs as well as eleven key members of our service, production, and business teams hold degrees from Virginia Tech. When you’ve got the right talent in place, there’s no limit to how far you can go. Makers of the world’s most accurate Certified Reference Materials Proud to support the Hokies’ teams. Because the Hokies are such a big part of ours. Goforth isn’t downplaying the accomplish­ ment, though. Not by any stretch. “For years, we have all been working to identify the question,” Goforth said. “At least now we can finally focus on a treatment answer.” A veteran of sports medicine, Brolinson plans on pushing for that exact type of test to which Goforth refers. He also plans on continuing to push the envelope in his research. In fact, he and a geneticist at VCOM are in the process of studying a genome to determine a way to find out if humans are predisposed to chronic traumatic encephalopathy—better known in sports circles as CTE. This degenerative disease of the brain continues to be found in people with a history of repetitive brain trauma, and more specifically, in football players. “I think there is a small group of people that are probably genetically predisposed to CTE—and those are people that probably shouldn’t be playing contact sports,” Brolinson said. “So it’ll be, ‘You’re going to play tennis or be a swimmer or play golf.’ There are lots of things that can be done in athletics if you’re one of those people predisposed genetically. “I’m really excited about the potential of having a test that could accurately predict that kind of risk. Just because it hasn’t been done before and people haven’t figured it out doesn’t mean it can’t be done.” Brolinson has kept that type of attitude since arriving in Blacksburg in 2002. Not long after his arrival, he started visiting the various departments around campus looking for projects that intrigued him, and he ran into Duma. He, Duma and Goforth all clicked. They all loved sports, and when Duma met a guy at a conference in Puerto Rico with a sensory contraption that he thought might work in a football helmet, they all decided to hop into the helmet safety and concussion game. They only needed seed money—a rather cumbersome task when many considered it “junk science.” But Dixie Tooke-Rawlins, the dean of VCOM at the time and now the president, graciously agreed to give them $50,000, and they kicked off their quest. Today, Duma’s work on helmet safety has received international acclaim and represents the industry standard, not just in football, but in other sports. And now, Brolinson and his group have created a revolutionary blood test to diagnose concussions. Both certainlymake the world a safer place —while also overcoming misconceptions and proving patience and persistence can win. “That’s really one of the great lessons that sports teaches us,” Brolinson said. “When you get knocked on your tail, you just get up and keep playing. That’s the great lesson of this. Patience is really key, and you have to be working with great teams of people. We have great people at Virginia Tech.” revolutionary blood test Continued from page 43 With the concussion blood test approved, Dr. Gunnar Brolinson and his team at VCOM are now setting their sights on researching certain genomes to determine if people are pre-disposed to CTE.