# Cilia Biomarker Kit Development for Brain Injury Diagnosis and Prognosis.

> **NIH NIH R41** · CIAN, INC. · 2024 · $369,886

## Abstract

Project Summary
Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is a major clinical problem affecting more than 3 million Americans
each year, and 60 million worldwide. Brain injuries are varied and depending on the region of
the brain impacted, the cell type injured, or the gender of the person, outcomes can vastly differ.
Misdiagnosing TBI can have devastating long-term consequences that can affect quality of life.
Solutions are needed that can better accurately prognosticate outcomes post TBI. At present,
substances in blood referred to as biomarkers serve as prognosticating tools for TBI outcomes.
Two FDA-approved biomarkers namely GFAP and UCH-L1 are used to triage mild TBI (mTBI)
patients that don’t need unnecessary computer tomography scans. Both GFAP and UCH-L1
proteins are released from cells upon injury and are found in neurons and glial cells. CIAN, Inc.
has preliminary data that suggests that blood flow and blood vessel health are important
components of TBI progression, and the endothelial cells that underlies the blood vessel needs
to be accounted for in biomarkers. A hair-like organelle called cilium that senses blood flow gets
dismantled upon high or disturbed blood flow conditions, which were observed in mTBI and
severe TBI. Our hypothesis is that vascular blood flow-associated markers in cilium when
combined with neuronal and glia markers will provide better outcome determination post TBI.
CIAN, Inc, technological innovation is based on the ciliary proteins expressed in the cilium that
serve as surrogate markers of vascular flow changes in TBI in blood. The long-term goal of this
project is to develop a point-of-care test that is based on ciliary biomarker detection in a drop of
blood. To facilitate this long-term objective, we need to develop specific monoclonal antibodies
and an immunoassay that can be miniaturized. In this STTR phase I project, CIAN, Inc. will
develop antibodies towards two protein targets that are expressed in cilia (aim 1), and an
immunoassay (aim 2) to detect these proteins in human plasma. Combining the two objectives
will result in a kit that can be run on colorimetric based ELISA readers available in most clinical
labs in levels 1 and 2 trauma centers in the US. In Phase II, we will validate the assay on TBI
samples to facilitate the development of a CLIA lab test. The commercial opportunity here is to
have a TBI prognosticating or monitoring biomarker test available in 450 level 1 or 2 trauma
centers in the US.

## Key facts

- **NIH application ID:** 11006498
- **Project number:** 1R41NS139906-01A1
- **Recipient organization:** CIAN, INC.
- **Principal Investigator:** Ramani Ramchandran
- **Activity code:** R41 (R01, R21, SBIR, etc.)
- **Funding institute:** NIH
- **Fiscal year:** 2024
- **Award amount:** $369,886
- **Award type:** 1
- **Project period:** 2024-08-29 → 2026-07-31

## Primary source

NIH RePORTER: https://reporter.nih.gov/project-details/11006498

## Citation

> US National Institutes of Health, RePORTER application 11006498, Cilia Biomarker Kit Development for Brain Injury Diagnosis and Prognosis. (1R41NS139906-01A1). Retrieved via AI Analytics 2026-05-24 from https://api.ai-analytics.org/grant/nih/11006498. Licensed CC0.

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