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.
IGFR1: A Potential Therapeutic Target For Dupuytren's Disease
Bing Siang Gan MD
2012
Lawson Health Research Institute (Lawson)
Pilot Research Grant
Hand or Upper Extremity, Wounds / Scar
Dupuytren's Contracture, or Dupuytren's disease, is an inherited condition of the hand that causes one or more fingers to curl permanently onto the palm. Surgery to remove the contracted tissues to restore hand function fails to prevent recurrence of this disease in at least 3 out of every 10 patients. Our research group has identified a novel and previously unrecognized molecular pathway by which cells in the palm are induced to grow abnormally and become contractile, the insulin-like growth factor pathway. This pathway is also active in several different types of cancer, and cancer researchers are currently trialing inhibitors of this pathway as potential therapies. Our research findings suggest that inhibitors of the insulin-like growth factor pathway may be beneficial to patients suffering from Dupuytren's disease. This project will test that possibility by isolating cells from the hands of patients undergoing surgery for Dupuytren's disease and growing these in conditions that promote growth and tissue contraction, in the presence or absence of insulin-like growth factor inhibitor. If successful, this project will identify a new approach that, in combination with hand surgery, may prevent recurrence of these debilitating contractures.