Faculty & Staff

Tess L. Briones, PhD, RN

Research Associate Professor
Department of Biobehavioral Health Science

NURS 750
UIC College of Nursing
845 South Damen Avenue (MC 802)
Chicago, IL 60612-7350

Phone: 312.355.3142
Email: tbriones@uic.edu

Research / Discovery
Dr. Briones has extensive experience in the management of traumatic head injury victims in the critical-care setting. Her program of research studies brain plasticity, the overall mechanisms that govern brain flexibility and mutability. Specifically, she is interested in examining the integrated response of the brain following drastic fluctuations in cerebral blood flow that can result in ischemic damage, such as those seen in severe head injury, stroke, and cardiac-arrest patients. The primary foci in Dr. Briones's laboratory are the mechanisms at the molecular, cellular, and behavioral (systems) levels whereby the nervous system responds to injury and the mechanisms whereby the external environment can lessen the effects of cerebral ischemic damage. The multifaceted approach used to study these problems includes electron microscopy, immunocytochemistry, stereology, and molecular techniques (specifically, real-time polymerase chain reaction [PCR]). Currently, Dr. Briones is studying the effects of the environment in influencing the link between behavior (learning, memory, and physical exercise) and gene expression following cerebral ischemic damage.

Teaching / Learning
Dr. Briones teaches the neurophysiology sections of NUSC 530 (a graduate-level Physiology course). She also co-teaches "Basic Clinical Immunology and Genetics" (NUSC 594) and has guest lectured on the topic of environmental influence on gene expression.

Service / Practice
Dr. Briones is an active member of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses (AANN); Midwest Nursing Research Society; Society for Neuroscience; International Society for Cerebral Blood Flow and Metabolism; and the American Physiological Society. She was the chairperson of the AANN Research Focus Group (1997-1998) and a past-president of the Washtenaw Chapter of AACN. Dr Briones is also involved in the Genetics (chairperson, 2002–2004) and Physiology research sections of the Midwest Nursing Research Society.

Current Research Projects:

• Gene-Environment Link Cerebral Ischemia
• The Effect of Vitamin D Supplementation on Inflammatory Responses and Cognitive Function in Aged Animals (Co-I)