Innovative Healing Strategies for War Wounded

The New Jersey Center for Biomaterials hosted the 9th New Jersey Symposium on Biomaterials Science and Regenerative Medicine, Oct. 29 to Oct. 31, at the Hyatt Regency, New Brunswick.  Academic, clinical and industrial investigators presented their strategies for addressing the challenges of severe blast injuries, such as those encountered in Iraq and Afghanistan. The researchers shared expertise on underlying biological, chemical and engineering technologies that enable new approaches to reconstruction and regeneration of injured tissues.

Dr. C. Everett Koop, former surgeon general of the United States, was the guest speaker at the Oct. 30 dinner. Key decision makers from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and the Department of Defense, and program directors from the National Institutes of Health presented talks and participate in panel discussions.

Many of the 80 symposium speakers are academic and industry members of the Department of Defense’s newly established Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM). The gathering of top federal officials, researchers, members of AFIRM and industry made this symposium a landmark event which promises remarkable changes in the lives of wounded service members.

Some of the speakers were investigators who are close to implementing clinical trials of novel therapies that will impact wound healing, salvaging injured limbs, facial reconstruction and prevention of scars:

• George Muschler from the Cleveland Clinic described his work as an orthopedic surgeon, combining cells and synthetic scaffolds to rebuild large bone defects.
• Richard Clark, a dermatologist from Stony Brook University is studying the application of proteins and nutritional supplements to the skin to reduce and repair burn injuries.
• Adam Katz, a plastic surgeon from the University of Virginia, has pioneered a method of transplanting a patient’s own fat tissue to reduce scarring.
• Michael Yaszemski, an orthopedic surgeon at the Mayo Clinic, is leading research teams from three universities to solve the problem of reconnecting severed peripheral nerves.
• Joseph Rosen of Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center is a plastic surgeon and expert in network collaboration, who is helping other researchers work across clinical and scientific disciplines for the benefit of severely injured U.S. military service members. 
       

This biennial event is organized by the New Jersey Center for Biomaterials, a Rutgers-based academic-industrial research center that has built a large international network around the enabling technologies of polymeric biomaterials.