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.
Characterization of SKP-SC produced myelin
Joey Grochmal MD
2012
The University of Calgary
Pilot Research Grant
Peripheral Nerve
Currently, our ability to analyze the composition and physical maturity of stem cell graft-derived myelin is limited to the study of fixed, dead tissues. For translational study of graft-derived myelin in humans, this is obviously inadequate. Spectral imaging of environmentally sensitive myelin dyes, with their ability to detect physical and chemical state of their surroundings, may be the answer to this problem. SKP-SCs are a potentially autologous source of Schwann cell like cells that have improved nerve regeneration in both nerve gap and chronic denervation models. We propose that these cells can remyelinate demyelinated peripheral nerve axons, and that the maturity of this myelination can be characterized and analyzed by the fluorescent spectral characteristics of SKP-SC myelin, as stained with environmentally sensitive myelin dyes. Aim 1 - proposes that environmentally sensitive myelin dyes can detect changes in the structure and composition of myelin. We will therefore analyze myelin spectra during developmental time points of the rat sciatic nerve. Sciatic nerves from MBP and P0 knockout mice will also be examined. Aim 2 - proposes that SKP-SCs can indeed myelinate peripheral axons (demonstrated in preliminary data), and that maturity of this myelination can be followed in-vivo using the dyes elucidated above. We will use an adriamycin injury model (demyelination) to analyze labeled SKP-SC induced remyelination. Aim 3 - proposes that SKP-SC remyelination can be imaged (spectral 2-photon) in living rat sciatic nerve, and that the spectral signature of the SKP-SC myelin will correlate with its structure and composition.
Joey Grochmal, MD attended the University of Alberta, completing an Honors BSc in Neuroscience, and graduating from the U of A medical school in 2006. He then moved to Calgary to begin his residency in neurosurgery at the University of Calgary. Recently, he took time off from clinical residency training to pursue a PhD in basic neuroscience. Dr. Grochmal is interested in the regeneration of the peripheral and central nervous system. In particular, his focus is on the use of stem cells for the augmentation of peripheral nerve repair in various injury scenarios. Future directions include involvement in translational research opportunities, in his capacity as a neurosurgery resident, and one day as a clinician scientist.