Grants We Funded
Grant applicants for the 2023 cycle requested a total of nearly $4 million dollars. The PSF Study Section Subcommittees of Basic & Translational Research and Clinical Research evaluated nearly 140 grant applications on the following topics:
The PSF awarded research grants totaling over $1 million dollars to support nearly 30 plastic surgery research proposals.
ASPS/PSF leadership is committed to continuing to provide high levels of investigator-initiated research support to ensure that plastic surgeons have the needed research resources to be pioneers and innovators in advancing the practice of medicine.
Research Abstracts
Search The PSF database to have easy access to full-text grant abstracts from past PSF-funded research projects 2003 to present. All abstracts are the work of the Principal Investigators and were retrieved from their PSF grant applications. Several different filters may be applied to locate abstracts specific to a particular focus area or PSF funding mechanism.
The Role of Skin Adnexal Immune Privilege in Tolerance Induction to Limb Transplants
Vijay Gorantia MD
2007
University of Pittsburgh
Basic Research Grant
Composite Tissue Allotransplantation
The purpose of our project is to develop a clinically feasible protocol that harnesses the unique immune privilege (IP) of skin appendages in limb composite tissue allografts (CIA's) and establishes tolerance while obviating need for prolonged immunosuppression. Currently, major tissue reconstruction is associated with poor functional aesthetic outcomes and significant morbidity/high expense of revision surgery - issues that can potentially be avoided by utilizing CIA's. CIA are inherently unique from solid organ transplants due to presence of multiple tissues. The skin component of CIA's is highly immunogenic due to potent antigen presenting cells called Langerhan's cells (LC). In clinical CIA's like hand transplants, this has mandated higher doses of immunosuppression to avoid skin rejection and graft loss. Recent evidence suggests that skin adnexae like the growing (anagen) hair follicles (HF) exhibit IP whereby they are protected from immune attack Keratinocytes (KC's) of anagen HF's are Class I neg and are not attacked by LC's of skin. KC's also secrete immunosuppressive cytokines that maintain the anagen state. Further, the CD200 molecule on KC's upon binding to its receptor (CD200R) on LC's, suppresses LC maturation and antigen presenting ability. Our overall hypothesis is that generating and maintaining IP in the skin of limb CIA and promoting critical molecular interactions between LC's and KC's will down-regulate LC maturation, suppress antigen presentation and promote a tolerogeneic milieu without requirement for prolonged immunosuppression.