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.
FGFR2 Inhibition Mitigates Craniosynostosis in Crouzon Syndrome
Derek Steinbacher MD, DMD, FACS
2013
Yale University School of Medicine
Pilot Research Grant
Cranio / Maxillofacial / Head and Neck, Tissue Engineering
Crouzon syndrome is the most common syndromic craniofacial anomaly associated with premature fusion of the calvarial sutures (craniosynostosis) and results from an autosomal dominant mutation in the functional domain of the fibroblast growth factor receptor-2 (Fgfr2) gene. The key clinical manifestations of Crouzon syndrome include craniosynostosis and midface retrusion, resulting in exorbitism, airway obstruction, and a class III malocclusion. These abnormalities result in cognitive and functional impairment. Treatment entails calvarial remodeling and expansion during infancy and correction of the facial dysmorphologies with growth. Dental and arch malrelationships can portend breathing and masticatory aberrations, and are managed in a team fashion, typically with combined surgical orthodontic therapy. Accumulating laboratory evidence suggests that pharmacological modulation of factors necessary for proper facial and cranial suture development may prevent premature closure or suture refusion and midface deficiency. We have combined a mouse model of Crouzon syndrome with a controlled drug delivery scaffold to test pharmacological means of calvarial suture rescue via modulation of FGFR2 in vivo. Our preliminary results demonstrate that pharmacological modulation of the FGFR2 pathway at an early age in mice prevents premature suture closure and mitigates the severity of midface retrusion and malocclusion. This leads to the overall hypothesis of this proposal: Pharmacological inhibition of FGFR2 in vivo will prevent craniosynostosis and midface retrusion in a Crouzon mouse model.
Dr. Steinbacher is the Director of Craniofacial Surgery at Yale. His clinical interests include cleft, craniofacial, and maxillofacial surgery, rhinoplasty, facial reanimation for palsy, and facial reconstruction. His research encompasses tissue engineering and regeneration, fat grafting, distraction osteogenesis, Crouzon syndrome, stress shielding, and 3-dimensional analysis and planning. Dr. Steinbacher obtained his MD from Harvard Medical School and DMD from the University of Pennsylvania. He received fellowship training in craniofacial surgery from Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, completed the plastic and reconstructive surgery program at Johns Hopkins Hospital/University of Maryland, and trained in oral/maxillofacial surgery at Massachusetts General Hospital.