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.
Determining the Mechanism of Arteriovenous Malformation
Arin Greene MD
2015
Children's Hospital Boston
National Endowment for Plastic Surgery Grant
Cranio / Maxillofacial / Head and Neck
The goal of this project is to understand the mechanism by which arteriovenous malformation (AVM) forms and progresses. This will inform us about the fundamentally important process of vascular morphogenesis and, importantly, identify specific genes/pathways for which targeted therapies can be developed to improve the lives of patients affected by AVM and other vascular diseases. AVM is a sporadic, non-familial congenital vascular malformation that is present at birth and can affect any area of the body. In the field of vascular anomalies, it is the most problematic type of lesion. AVM enlarges overtime, especially during childhood and adolescence. When progression occurs it can cause significant disfigurement and psychosocial morbidity. Enlargement of the lesion ultimately leads to ulceration, pain, bleeding, infection, heart failure, and death. Management consists of embolization of the affected vasculature and surgical resection of the lesion. Currently, there is no cure for AVM, and drug treatment does not exist.
We hypothesize somatic mutations cause AVM. Therefore, our first aim is to identify novel somatic mosaic mutations that cause AVM. We will do this by employing massively parallel sequencing and analysis strategies using the affected and unaffected tissues we have already obtained from patients with AVM. Our second aim is to identify the cell type and cell biologic properties that drive the arteriovenous malformation process by purifying endothelial cells and pericytes from freshly obtained human AVM tissue. Cells will undergo massively parallel sequencing to determine which cell type (s) primarily contain novel mutations.
These experiments would be high impact when we succeed in identifying the mechanism responsible for AVM formation and growth. For the first time we would be able to pursue a targeted approach for treating this disease. For example, pathway specific topical, intralesional, and/or systemic pharmacologic agents could be developed to prevent AVM progression or recurrence. Also, discoveries into the cause of AVM will help us understand the mechanisms that underlie other pediatric vascular lesions and improve our ability to identify new pathways for either preventing vascular growth in other disorders (eg, cancer) or promoting growth during tissue repair or engineering.
Dr. Greene’s research background is in the field of angiogenesis. He trained in the Harvard Combined Plastic Surgery Program and then completed a fellowship in Craniofacial/Pediatric Plastic Surgery at Children’s Hospital Boston. His basic science and clinical research is focused on vascular anomalies, lymphedema, and cranioplasty.