Research interests

Biomechanics of traumatic brain injury in sporting collisions

Contact

Alumni

Dr Karl (Gus) Zimmerman

Former PhD student (primary affiliation: Brain Sciences)

Karl is a Former PhD student (primary affiliation: Brain Sciences) in HEAD Lab. Research interests include Biomechanics of traumatic brain injury in sporting collisions.

Recent conferences

Sept 2026

Short Communication: Predicting Sport-Related Brain Injury via Head Kinematics, Finite Element Brain Modelling, and Plasma Biomarkers

IRCOBI 2026, Munich
Proceedings (PDF)

Publications

Modelling the effect of ventricular expansion on white matter in normal pressure hydrocephalus

Martina Del Giovane, Vahid Darvishi, Michael C B David, Magdalena A Kolanko, Gregory Scott, Karl A Zimmerman, Valentina Giunchiglia, Anastasia Gontsarova, Adam Hampshire, Paresh A Malhotra, Mazdak Ghajari, Christopher Carswell, David J Sharp

Brain, 2026

DOI

Integrating mouthguard kinematics, finite element brain strain, and plasma biomarkers to explore brain injury thresholds in collision sport

preprint

James W. Hickey, Emily Yik Kwan Chan, Lauren J Evans, William T. O’Brien, Becca Xie, Spencer Roberts, Sarah E. Butler, Joel Ernst, William Ji Quan Zhou, Karl Zimmerman, Gershon Spitz, Thomas D Parker, Terence J O'Brien, Sandy R. Shultz, David Sharp, Mazdak Ghajari, Stuart J. McDonald

medRxiv, 2026

DOI

Traumatic brain injury and mortality in older adults with and without pre-injury dementia

Helen Lai, Eyal Soreq, Niall Bourke, Claire Baker, Karl Zimmerman, Megan E Parkinson, Sarah Daniels, Edward W. Gregg, David Sharp, Lucia M. Li

Age and Ageing, 2025

DOI

Traumatic brain injury (TBI) and mortality in older adults with and without pre-injury dementia

preprint

Helen Lai, Eyal Soreq, Niall Bourke, Claire Baker, Karl Zimmerman, Megan E Parkinson, Sarah Daniels, Edward W. Gregg, David Sharp, Lucia M. Li

medRxiv, 2024

DOI

A Finite Element Model of Cerebral Vascular Injury for Predicting Microbleeds Location

Harry Duckworth, Adriana Azor, Nikolaus Wischmann, Karl Zimmerman, Ilaria Tanini, David Sharp, Mazdak Ghajari

Frontiers in Bioengineering and Biotechnology, 2022

DOI

The biomechanical signature of loss of consciousness: computational modelling of elite athlete head injuries

Karl Zimmerman, Janie Cournoyer, Helen Lai, Samuel B. Snider, David Fischer, Simon Kemp, Clara Karton, T. Blaine Hoshizaki, Mazdak Ghajari, David Sharp

Brain, 2022

DOI