The proliferation of improvised explosive devices in Iraq and Afghanistan has dramatically changed the face of war, sending the number of severe blast-trauma injuries spiraling upward. The soldiers maimed and disfigured in these explosions now account for the vast majority of combat casualties.

Better body armor, quicker evacuation from the battlefield, and advanced medical care have made it possible for injured soldiers to survive in much higher numbers than in previous conflicts. Once home, however, they face the challenge of overcoming grave limb, head, face, and burn injuries that can take years to treat and often result in lifelong impairments.

Rutgers is taking a leadership position in meeting this challenge. Board of Governors Professor of Chemistry and Chemical Biology Joachim Kohn has assembled a team of the country’s top biomedical researchers to develop new therapies to treat traumatic injuries and help soldiers resume their lives.

This month the Rutgers consortium, spearheaded by Kohn, was awarded $42.5 million in federal funding over five years to develop new products and therapies to repair battlefield injuries through the use of regenerative medicine. A second group of researchers, managed by Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center and the University of Pittsburgh, has received another $42.5 million in funding. Together, the two teams form the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM).

Rutgers innovative approach employs biological therapies, including the use of stem cells and growth factors, tissue and biomaterials engineering, and transplants that enable the body to repair, replace, restore, and regenerate damaged tissues and organs.

“Our foremost goal is to alleviate the human suffering associated with debilitating blast injuries and to enable our injured people to return to productive lives,” Kohn said.

Biomaterials will play a crucial role in the development of new therapies for regenerating tissue and healing large wounds. Rutgers, with expertise in this area, is creating methods for identifying new compositions of biomaterials to spur the growth of nerves, blood vessels, skin, bone, and muscle. Once identified, these compositions will be used by AFIRM team members to develop new clinical applications.

The institute also will dramatically accelerate the rate at which promising biomaterials, as well as cell-based and combined regenerative medicine technologies, will be converted into new therapies to restore lost tissue and lost function. These products and therapies will serve civilian trauma and burn patients as well.