The Emergency Medicine Sanderson Laboratory is the department's basic science enterprise. The lab has been in operation in one form or another since the 1970s, producing dozens of papers, reviews, abstracts and book chapters, as well as millions of dollars in extramural funding. The mission of the Sanderson Laboratory is to investigate the physical and biochemical mechanisms of brain tissue damage and repair after ischemic or traumatic injury, as part of an effort to bring clinically effective neuroprotective strategies to the bedside. The Cerebral Resuscitation Laboratory is closely affiliated with the Cardiovascular Research Institute and the Department of Physiology.