# Disseminating a validated mouthguard sensor to investigate the effect of head impacts on brain health

> **NIH NIH R24** · STANFORD UNIVERSITY · 2021 · $240,696

## Abstract

The objective of this proposal is to disseminate mouthguard sensors to a community of researchers studying
the short- and long-term effects of head impacts on brain health. Traumatic brain injury (TBI) has long been
known to be a leading cause of death and disability among children and young adults. However, it has only
recently been argued that concussion, a form of “mild” TBI, increases the risk for Alzheimer's and other
neurodegenerative diseases. Understanding the mechanisms of concussion is crucial for injury diagnosis and
prevention. However, past research efforts have been unable to identify a clear link between head impact
acceleration dose and neurological response indicative of injury. This is mainly due to the lack of a large, high
quality concussion dataset. The difficulty in measuring rare injury scenarios has hampered individual
investigators from making substantial progress. Thus the required dataset can only be gathered through large-
scale, multi-institution dissemination of a validated head impact measurement sensor.
We propose to widely disseminate our rigorously validated Stanford mouthguard (MiG2.0), and subsequently
develop a platform to share collected data among many investigators. The MiG2.0 is a unique design that
rigidly couples to the skull through upper dentition. This project will disseminate the MiG2.0 to a large
community of concussion researchers that study high injury rate populations such as contact sports players. At
the end of the project, we will have a large concussion database with accurate head impact measurements that
will further our understanding of concussion mechanisms. Our long-term goal is that the knowledge gained
from this dissemination effort will improve concussion management and long-term brain health by enabling (1)
real-time field diagnosis, and (2) design improvements in protective equipment for athletics, the military,
transportation and other high-risk activities.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 10072083
- **Project number:** 5R24NS098518-04
- **Recipient organization:** STANFORD UNIVERSITY
- **Principal Investigator:** David Camarillo
- **Activity code:** R24 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2021
- **Award amount:** $240,696
- **Award type:** 5
- **Project period:** 2017-12-01 → 2022-11-30

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/10072083

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 10072083, Disseminating a validated mouthguard sensor to investigate the effect of head impacts on brain health (5R24NS098518-04). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-21 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/10072083. Licensed CC0.

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