The team’s medical staff will analyze the player’s brain waves on the spot and determine within minutes whether he can safely return to the game or whether he has a concussion and, if so, how severe it is.
Putting the finishing touches on that device is among the projects planned in the University of Nebraska’s Center for Brain, Biology and Behavior, which opens this month in Memorial Stadium’s newly expanded east side.
CB3, as it’s called, is housed in the same $55-million structure that holds 38 luxury suites and an additional 6,000 seats for the football stadium. The centre is one of a number university-affiliated research centres across the U.S. looking for better ways to diagnose and treat traumatic head injuries and make football and other sports safer.
“There has been great concussion research that’s been going on for decades,” said Molfese, the CB3 director. “It’s disconcerting to realize just how little we really know.”