Grants We Funded
Grant applicants for the 2022 cycle requested a total of over $2.9 million dollars. The PSF Study Section subcommittees of Basic & Translational Research and Clinical Research evaluated 115 grant applications on the following topics:
The PSF awarded research grants totaling almost $550,000 to support 19 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.
Influence of PEDOT and myoblasts on neuroma formation
Benjamin Wei MD
2010
The Regents of the University of Michigan
Pilot Research Grant
Hand or Upper Extremity, Peripheral Nerve
An estimated 185,000 Americans undergo limb amputation each year; one in 190 Americans has had one already. Modern robotics hold the potential for detailed functional replication of the human hand. The significant obstacle to using these advanced prosthetics, however, lies at the interface between the nerves of the patient the electronics of the prosthetic. This nerve-machine interface is notorious for scarring over the long-term, which ultimately halts electrical communication between the prosthetic and the patient. Importantly, a significant proportion of amputees suffer from neuromas, a tangled cluster of regenerating nerve endings that forms at the end of cut nerves. Neuromas are both painful and a source of action potential signal interference.
Our group is interested in developing a peripheral nerve interface that allows the patient to move a prosthetic using his own motor nerves, and to experience sensation from the prosthetic using his own sensory nerves. Such an interface requires high fidelity, long-term biocompatibility, and minimal neuroma potential. We have already synthesized an organic polymer that is very conductive and has demonstrated promising biocompatible traits. This polymer is known as poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene) (PEDOT). To address neuroma formation, we have shown that placing muscle cells at the interface can give regenerating peripheral nerves a target to grow towards, potentially reducing neuromas. Our model is the rat peroneal nerve, a nerve in the leg that carries both motor information from the brain to the foot and sensory information from the foot to the brain. The purpose of this study is to investigate the influence of PEDOT and myoblasts on neuroma formation in rat peroneal nerves.
