Rebuilding the Troops

For wounded soldiers, the military's Institute of Regenerative Medicine offers dramatic new ways to heal

By Amanda Schupak Posted 06.24.2008 at 4:29 pm 14 Comments

Missing Limb Brendan Smialowski/Getty Images

Skin guns. Organ printers. Pig dust. Biochemist Alan Russell believes tools like these could one day be standard-issue for the battlefield medic. The skin gun would heal burns. The organ printer would replace badly wounded livers, kidneys, even hearts. And the pig dust? That could help regrow body parts for the estimated 1,000 veterans who have come home from Iraq and Afghanistan missing them. It’s all part of the vision of the $250-million Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM), a consortium of 30 research institutions established in March by the U.S. Department of Defense. Russell, who directs the University of Pittsburgh’s McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine, will help lead AFIRM’s efforts to develop therapies for the regeneration of bones, muscles, tendons, nerves and blood vessels, as a way to heal wounded soldiers faster and more effectively than with conventional treatments.

Growing an Ear: Wake Forest University School of Medicine

The idea of regrowing limbs sounds "kind of Star Trek-y," Russell admits, but he says that it’s within the grasp of science. He points to his colleague at McGowan, Stephen Badylak, a pathologist and fellow AFIRM researcher, who shocked the medical world last year when he reported that a powder culled from pig bladders helped resprout the severed fingertips of two patients in their 60s. Normally, when a person loses a limb, scar tissue forms over the wound, leaving a permanent stub. The pig powder contains signaling molecules that attract cells and proteins known as growth factors and override the scarring process, telling the cells to grow instead. (Badylak settled on pigs because their molecules are similar to those found in humans and easy to obtain.) The pig dust was so effective that, with just a light dusting every other day for two weeks, the fingertips grew back entirely—fingernails and all—six weeks later, Badylak reported. For already scarred-over limbs, researchers have developed an enzyme that eats away scar tissue so they can dust the healthy cells below. With AFIRM’s backing, Badylak next hopes to figure out how to stimulate the growth of more complicated muscle tissues found in arms and legs.

AFIRM's stem-cell gun for burns: McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine

AFIRM won't stop at salamander-like limb regeneration. For injuries to organs, Wake Forest University tissue engineer and AFIRM researcher Anthony Atala (who nabbed this magazine’s 2006 Best of What's New Grand Award for his artificial bladder) is building an inkjet printer capable of creating an entire organ on demand. The device uses cartridges filled with cells from various types of tissue, along with a mix of growth factors and special nutrients, to "print" organs layer upon layer. The printer has so far managed structures as complex as a rudimentary rat heart. Within the next five years, Atala aims to build a portable version for the battlefield that will print layers of skin tissue directly onto deep flesh wounds. For surface wounds, such as burns, the consortium is developing a handheld spritzer that sprays a thin layer of immature skin cells over the wound. These cells, called keratinocytes, are extracted from the patient’s skin and stimulate healing in the wound. In a recent clinical test of the gun on 16 burn patients, all showed "excellent healing" after one to three weeks. The conventional approach of grafting, in comparison, takes just as long but requires three times as much skin and often results in patchwork scarring.

The Pentagon's five-year investment in these and other regenerative techniques is based on military needs, but the end goal is to help soldiers and civilians alike. "Conventional medicine cannot return people to the way they were before," Russell says. For amputees, "readjusting to a new reality is not acceptable."

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14 Comments

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podboq

06/25/08 at 3:39 am

$250 million dollars...is that what they've spent total on this?

......

spent on something that could actually make the world a better place......

..........

As an amputee myself, I guess my perception is kinda skewed, but why aren't we spending billions on this research? Knowing what I know about the bullsh*t government spends money on, and then hearing about the $.25 spent on this tech... just f*cking sucks.

Does anyone in power CARE what losing a limb has actually done to my life?

no.

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podboq

06/25/08 at 3:40 am

Do they care how it would affect my life to have my limb back?

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sleidia

06/25/08 at 7:47 am

Podboq,

They care more about creating multi-billion dollars weapons than creating ways to regrow limbs or stop cancer and aging.

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indiana33

06/25/08 at 10:03 am

I have been an amputee for 19 years and you guys need to chill out. Yes, it sucks that our system grossly underfunds prosthetic and clinical development, however, take time to look at the larger picture. By virtue of our country spending billions in military expenditures, many areas in medical advancement are and will remain underfunded. Try and take pleasure in the fact that initiatives to promote prosthetic studies are being taken. I am not mandating complacency or suggesting passivity, I am merely pointing out that there are those whose illnesses and mental defects will never have an opportunity to receive the attention or the governmental backing that the area of prosthetics is currently receiving.

And you are right, no one in power cares what losing a limb has done in your life. They are too busy worrying about trivial things such as diplomacy, globalization, and what a mess they created by catering to oil cartels to unjustly maximize profit.

sidenote:
Obama 08

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podboq

06/26/08 at 7:01 am

wouldn't need prosthetics at all if they'd get on the ball with the restorations and regrowth. No sense in it, many might disagree with me, but quality of life IS affected by number of limbs, and so are employment opportunities.

I've been an amputee for 20 yrs, So I got seniority here, don't tell me to chill. :D

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Cstanley3752000

06/26/08 at 10:11 pm

Podboq like all new technologies we have to start somewhere. Field rations (Hard tack and coffee) were a joke during the civil war until canning became widespread. As with prosthetics they have been out a while and there are alot out there that have had their lives much improved by them. The Tech in this article is still new so too many people do not know of its value but as more hear about it more will be done. All technologies have to start out somewhere and they do not all come out full blown.

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palarious

from Detroit, Texas

06/27/08 at 3:02 am

While i agree with the premise of Podboq's comment, i would mention that throwing money at something does not always make it more efficient.

however, i do feel that much, much more money should be shifted towards medical fields like this, if for no other reason than that the vast majority of americans would approve of their tax dollars being spent on it.

let's not forget, gentlemen, that the government is only spending OUR money.

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jokrj

06/29/08 at 10:46 am

Well palarious, unfortunately the govt. seems to do whatever they want with OUR money whether we approve or not. There are alot of things that need attention that dont get it. And the beat goes on.

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ikwilgeen

07/06/08 at 11:50 am

USD 250 million compared to USD 23 Billion contractors stole is peanuts!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/panorama/7438372.stm

Perhaps you can download this docu somewhere. It's worth it!

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Nihilius

07/11/08 at 10:19 pm

I think its disappointing that the "richest damn country" in the world cannot devote more money and time to actually helping the injured regrow and or repair limbs, finding better and quicker ways to do so will cost time and money but what is that worth compared with a man or a womans mobility, independence and life? answer.

God Damn, its still frigging disappointing

and

I have all of my limbs!

mhm, this is for the one who wont spend money in a right way :

.I...

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sccrtel

07/16/08 at 2:33 am

This is a very smart investment! Finally, giving back to those who risked their lives in war for us!! They are finally getting what they deserve, a new chance at life in America!

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furyreborne

07/21/08 at 1:53 pm

While all of ur comments r interesting... should i point out that the medical field is more concerned about saving lives at the moment. There second priority is about making lives better! ^_^ Although it must really suck having missing limbs u have to think about other people w/ disabilities and diseases who wish there were cures to something they have but simply don't. And they have to live the rest of there life knowing there is no cure. Science just hasn't caught up yet!

o_o

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RLL

07/24/08 at 7:23 pm

The pig powder is called UBM and it will be available soon through a company called ACell, Inc. www.acell.com

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Sparkysx

09/24/08 at 1:34 pm

Just because this will be able to heal scars it gets my vote. If I had billions of dollars I'd donate it to this cause just so I could get rid of this 13cm scar that resides on my head!
(I know other people have a much greater need than me)