Traumatic brain injury (TBI) is hard to detect, and is sometimes called the "invisible injury." Nancy Denslow, a scientist at the McKnight brain institute and cofounder of Banyan Biomarkers has developed a blood based test that will make TBI detection and treatment easier and faster Daughter of diplomat, was born and raised overseas in Mexico and Ecuador, and Turkey. "Petrified by Science" growing up her interest was changed by a great high school.

TRANSCRIPT:

Intro: 0:20

Inventors and their inventions. Welcome to Radio Cade, the podcast from the Cade Museum for Creativity and Invention in Gainesville, Florida. The museum is named after James Robert Cade who invented Gatorade in 1965. My name is Richard Miles. We'll introduce you to inventors and the things that motivate them. We'll learn about their personal stories, how their inventions work, and how their ideas get from the laboratory to the marketplace.

Richard Miles: 0:38

This morning we have Dr. Nancy Denslow from Banyan Biomarkers. Welcome, Nancy.

Dr. Nancy Denslow: 0:43

Thank you. Glad to be here.

Richard Miles: 0:44

Nancy, tell us a little bit about yourself before we jump into asking you about the technology and its application. Just sort of where were you born? Were you raised to... How did you end up at the University of Florida?

Dr. Nancy Denslow: 0:59

Well, my dad was a diplomat, so I was actually born in Mexico City while he was stationed there and I lived there six years and then after that I lived in Quito, Ecuador for six years and then in Istanbul, Turkey for three years. So I was a junior in high school before I came back to live in the United States. And from there I graduated from high school in Virginia, northern Virginia, and then went to college at Mary Washington College in Fredericksburg, Virginia, which at the time was an all girls school and majored in chemistry.

Richard Miles: 1:33

What made you decide to go into chemistry? Was this something from a little girl that you're interested in or was it a good high school teacher? What formed that decision?

Dr. Nancy Denslow: 1:43

Actually, I was petrified of science while I was growing up, but then I had an excellent teacher in high school and that's what turned my mind about it. And so that just goes to show what good teachers could do.

Richard Miles: 1:55

So your undergraduate was in chemistry, is that correct?

Dr. Nancy Denslow: 1:57

That's right.

Richard Miles: 1:58

Okay. And then your graduate work, you continued in chemistry and biology, is that correct?

Dr. Nancy Denslow: 2:03

No. So the last year in chemistry. I had a course in biochemistry and I thought it was just really interesting. So I continued biochemistry and molecular biology.

Richard Miles: 2:15

Got It. Okay. So let's talk about the technology here that the thing that you invented, the company is called Banyan Biomarkers. Tell us a little bit what are biomarkers, but tell it to me as if I were a six year old who doesn't know anything about anything and it's not that hard for me to pretend, but really tell us how the technology works and what it does.

Dr. Nancy Denslow: 2:41

Okay, so a biomarker is another method or is a metho