The composition of the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM) has just been announced by the US Department of Defense (DoD). Unusually, the US Army Institute for Surgical Research at San Antonio in Texas will collaborate heavily with two civilian consortia in a quarter of a billion dollar initiative to accelerate the development of regenerative technologies for treating wounded soldiers. This has been described as the largest ever federal investment in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.
The initial five year programme will develop technologies in the following areas:
- Craniofacial repair
- Non-scarring wound repair
- Reconstruction following burns
- Limb reconstruction, regeneration or transplantation
- Compartment syndrome
Of the total, only one third will be provided from military budgets, and that will be shared between the US Army Medical Research Material Command, the Office of Naval Research, the National Institutes of Health, the Air Force Office of the Surgeon General and the Department of Veterans Affairs.
The two civilian consortia are led by the Wake Forest Institute for Regenerative Medicine with the McGowan Institute for Regenerative Medicine at the University of Pittsburgh, and Rutgers University with the Cleveland Clinic. Of note is the inclusion of UK-based tissue engineering company Intercytex established in Manchester in the development of skin.
Nick Rhodes