Washington — The Department of Defense has awarded an $85 million grant to the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM), a network of plastic surgeons and other physicians who specialize in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine, reports Medical News Today.
The grant will be used for research projects to develop new therapies to better treat U.S. soldiers injured in Iraq and Afghanistan. Much of the research will be related to the specialty of plastic surgery. The five major areas of research include limb salvage, reconstruction, regeneration and transplantation; craniofacial reconstruction; burn repair; scar reduction; and treatment for compartment syndrome.
The $85 million in grant money will be awarded over a period of five years beginning this spring. Approximately 25 percent of AFIRM’s physician researchers are board-certified plastic surgeons. Other specialties participating in AFIRM include general surgery, orthopedics, otolaryngology and dermatology.
As of mid-April, nearly 29,800 soldiers have been wounded in action in Iraq and another 1,927 have been wounded in Afghanistan operations, according to the Department of Defense.
