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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.

Neurotubes vs Grafts For Nerve Gaps In Rats Receiving FK506

Principal Investigator
Petros Konofaos MD, PhD, FEBOPRAS

Year
2007

Institution
Eastern Virginia Medical School

Funding Mechanism
Basic Research Grant

Focus Area
Peripheral Nerve

Abstract
Nerve grafting is the proposed current solution to overcome peripheral nerve deficits. An alternative to this "classical" strategy is the use of synthetic conduits. The purpose of this experimental project is to identify if the combination of a sub immunosuppressive dose of FK 506 and a synthetic tube can enhance nerve regeneration especially in cases of long nerve gaps (above 4 cm). If this is bearded out, then future clinical applications of this combination for patients with severe nerve injuries could be extensive. We will use two different 4 cm synthetic tubes, a polycaprolactone tube (Neurolac ®) and a collagen tube (Integra TM) in rats which receive FK 506. These will be compared with regeneration achieved through the same tubes in rats which do not receive FK 506. In two more groups a saphenous nerve graft will be used in bridging a 4 cm nerve gap: one group will receive FK 506 and the other will not receive it. As it is critical to test regeneration across a distance of 4 cm, a cross-chest nerve regeneration model is established in the rodent using the contralateral C7 nerve root as the motor donor for musculocutaneous nerve neurotization.