DARPA grant supports research toward realizing tissue re...( PITTSBURGH May 2 While U.S. soldiers ...)

PITTSBURGH, May 2 While U.S. soldiers fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan are surviving injuries that in previous conflicts likely would have been fatal, the number of wounded with major tissue loss has never before been so high. Such injuries the partial or complete loss of digits or limbs and deforming facial injuries have profoundly affected the quality of life of the wounded as well as presented a new set of challenges for the medical community faced with treating them.

Recognizing the need for novel approaches that can restore, even partially, the structure and function of lost or damaged tissues, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a $3.7 million grant to the University of Pittsburgh's McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine to oversee an ambitious, multi-center research program to better understand the intricate processes involved in wound healing and tissue restoration. A large part of the team's effort will involve examining the cellular and molecular systems that allow certain animals to completely regenerate lost tissue. The ultimate goal of the research is to identify ways for enhancing the capacity for wound healing and tissue restoration in humans.

Coordinating the effort is Stephen Badylak, D.V.M., M.D., Ph.D., research professor in the department of surgery at the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine and Director of the Center for Pre-clinical Tissue Engineering at Pitt's McGowan Institute. In addition to the University of Pittsburgh, five other centers are involved. The investigators from these institutions offer diverse, yet complementary, research interests. They are:

• Susan Braunhut, Ph.D., professor of biological sciences at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, a tumor cell and vascular cell biologist who studies the regenerative potential of extracellular matrix, and; Kenneth Marx, Ph.D., professor of chemistry and a co-investigator of this team, who develops bi
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2-May-2006


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