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.
Dendritic Cell Induced Tolerance in Rat Composite Allograft
Vu Nguyen MD
2003
University of Pittsburgh
Basic Research Grant
Composite Tissue Allotransplantation
Composite tissue allografts (CTAs) are our best option in reconstructing complex tissue defects, including situations of extremity loss. Previous studies have investigated the relationship between dendritic cells (DCs) and the induction of tolerance to cardiac and skin allografts. We propose to further this model, utilizing composite tissues allografts to examine the extent and flexibility of this tolerance regimen. Previous experiments by other authors have shown that the transfer of immunodominant allopeptidepulsed host dendritic cells have tolerized recipient rats to allogeneic solid organ transplants. Garrovillo and colleagues have shown that the intravenous administration of host dendritic cells (DCs) expressing donor MHC molecules have induced tolerance to donor cardiac allografts, in a WF-to-ACI rat combination. We propose to adopt this functioning model and to extend its use to a more stringent histocompatibility barrier, utilizing a WF-to-Lewis rat combination. In addition, we propose the use of a hind-limb transplant model, to examine the protocol's potential for tolerance to the diverse elements of a composite tissue allograft (CTA). If successful, this experiment would represent a significant step towards developing an elegant preclinical model for the eventual use of composite tissue allografts in the reconstruction of complex tissue defects, including situations of traumatic limb loss and amputation.