The US Department of Defence (DoD) has announced government funding has been allocatted for a regenerative medicine institution designed to repair soldiers' tissue damaged due to illness or injury.
The Department of Defence has announced the establishment of a regenerative medicine unit. Photo: U.S. Army Surgeon General Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker. Credit: Defense Dept. photo by R. D. Ward
The establishment of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) was announced at the Pentagon yesterday, and will consist of two multi-institutional consortia, one led by Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, N.C., and the University of Pittsburgh; and one led by Rutgers University, New Brunswick, N.J., and the Cleveland Clinic.
The U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research in San Antonio, Texas will coordinate research with these academic institutions to advise on military medical needs, said a DoD press release.
“Therapies developed by the AFIRM project will greatly benefit wounded warriors, as well as the civilian population with, burns or severe trauma due to illness or injury,” said Dr. S. Ward Casscells, assistant secretary of defence for health affairs.
“Following in the great military medical tradition of innovation, collaboration and progressive research, AFIRM will unify and apply all the recent breakthroughs in regenerative medicine while leading the charge to new ones,” said Casscells.
According to Defence, a total of more than $250 million -- including $85 million in defence funding and around $180 million from academic institutions -- will be made available for regeneration research.
The areas prioritised for research, according to the DoD statement will be: Burn repair, wound healing without scarring, craniofacial reconstruction, limb reconstruction, regeneration or transplantation, and compartment syndrome, a condition related to inflammation after surgery or injury that can lead to increased pressure, impaired blood flow, nerve damage and muscle death.
One controversial area of regenerative research will include the growing of new tissue from the victim's stem cells.
Army surgeon general, Lt. Gen. Eric Schoomaker, told reporters at the briefing he hoped the techniques will be available to treat injured soldiers within a few years.
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