Revolutionary Women in Hydrocephalus Research – Dr. BlazerYost

Hydrocephalus Association Highlights the Influence of Dr. Bonnie BlazerYost during National Women’s History Month

Dr. Bonnie BlazerYost – Kidney scientist turned hydrocephalus researcher has been awarded multi-million dollar grants from the Department of Defense.

Medical research is painstaking, methodical, and not often a straightforward process. Dr. Bonnie BlazerYost, Ph.D., did not set out to cure hydrocephalus. As Professor of Biology at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, her specialty was renal (kidney) physiology and studying how the body moves salt and water around for its needs. In 2014, she and her colleagues were testing a diabetes drug to find its potential impact on polycystic kidney disease. The drug was ineffective in animal testing and, unexpectedly, caused the heads of rats to get bigger from severe hydrocephalus. With these unexpected results, Dr. Blazer-Yost and her team decided to test an antagonist of the drug—which would have its opposite effect on the rats. “We found that the head size decreased; the hydrocephalus decreased,” Dr. Blazer-Yost observed.

 Thanks to her funding through the 2015 HA Innovator Award, generously supported by Team Hydro, Dr. Blazer-Yost and her lab were able to obtain the compelling preliminary data they required to apply for Department of Defense (DOD) funding to continue their ground-breaking work on hydrocephalus. In 2022, they were awarded two multimillion dollar DOD grants to conduct research on this potential drug treatment. With this funding, they will also test potential treatments developed by Johns Hopkins University investigators (erythropoietin + melatonin) and Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis investigators (TRPV4 antagonists) in genetic, posthemorrhagic, and posttraumatic hydrocephalus rat models. Furthermore, this funding has allowed her and her colleagues to create a Hydrocephalus Research Center to foster collaboration locally and globally, and to train members of the next generation of hydrocephalus scientists.

“The Hydrocephalus Association Innovator Award award was a pivotal turning point in my journey, drawing my research focus towards hydrocephalus. With immense gratitude, it paved the way for two multimillion-dollar DOD awards and collaboration with remarkable minds. This award led to the patenting of a potential breakthrough drug.” — Dr. Blazer-Yost

Related article: Department of Defense Funds Two Research Studies on Hydrocephalus