Winston-Salem, NC—New jobs and increased activity are expected at the Regenerative Medicine Project at Piedmont Triad Research Park following Wake Forest Baptist’s selection as co-lead of the $85 million Armed Forces Institute for Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM).

Federally-funded AFIRM will be dedicated to repairing battlefield injuries through the use of regenerative medicine, science that takes advantage of the body’s natural healing powers to restore or replace damaged tissue and organs.

The project will be co-led by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine (WFIRM) and Rutgers University and will include a host of academic and industrial partners.

“For the first time in the history of regenerative medicine, we have the opportunity to work at a national level to bring transformational technologies to wounded soldiers, and to do so in partnership with the armed services,” said Anthony Atala, M.D., director of WFIRM. “This field of science has the potential to significantly impact our ability to successfully treat major trauma.

Five-area focus
The WFIRM-led group has committed to develop clinical therapies over the next five years that will focus on the following five areas:

● Burn repair

● Wound healing without scarring

● Craniofacial reconstruction

● Limb reconstruction, regeneration or transplantation

● Compartment syndrome, a condition related to inflammation after surgery or injury that can lead to increased pressure, impaired blood flow, nerve damage and muscle death.

Projects already underway

Working with the U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research and other institutions, WFIRM is already pursuing projects such as developing a product to quickly stop bleeding and develop an off-the-shelf skin for burn patients.

The group has successfully grown muscle, bone and blood vessels in the laboratory with the goal of one day combining them to create more complex organs.

Manufacturing facility in the works
As a result of the project, Wake Forest University Health Sciences (WFUHS) plans to construct a manufacturing facility in the Richard H. Dean Biomedical Research Building that meets standards of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration. This will allow products developed at the institute to be manufactured there.

Atala said additional scientists will be hired as a result of the grant, but an estimate of the number needed is not yet available.

The Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine is an established center dedicated to the discovery, development and clinical translation of regenerative medicine technologies by leading faculty.

The institute has used biomaterials alone, cell therapies, and engineered tissues and org ans for the treatment of patients with injury or disease. The Institute is based at the Wake Forest University Baptist Medical Center.

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