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.
Targeting Different Aspects of Tissue Engineering Cartilage in vivo
John Mesa MD
2003
Massachusetts General Hospital
Research Fellowship
Tissue Engineering
The concept of tissue engineering cartilage to generate new tissue is one of the most promising avenues for creating suitable tissue for plastic and reconstructive purposes (Passaretti, Tissue Eng 2001). Using small cartilage biopsy specimens, cartilage cells can be isolated and expanded in culture to generate large numbers for engineering new tissue. Also, chondrogenic cells obtained from bone marrow aspiration (Mesenchymal Stem Cells) can be differentiated into chondrocytes and used as alternative cartilage cell source (Pittenger, Science 1999). By seeding dissociated swine chondrocytes into biodegradable scaffold polymers in vivo, our laboratory and others have shown that it is possible to produce autologous neocartilage that resembles the native cartilage for restoring both form and function (Pannossian, PRS 2001). Although the tissue engineering of cartilage has a full potential of restoring shape and function of cartilage defects, it remains an imperfect approach that has to be improved prior to clinical trials. The overall objective of this study is to evaluate specific aspects of the neocartilage formation process that could ultimately aid in the development of safe, effectual, and predictable cartilage tissue engineering therapies for plastic and reconstructive purposes.