Facilitated By

San Antonio Medical Foundation

Triggerable Release, Reloadable, SMART Hydrogels for Graft Targeted Immunotherapy in Reconstructive Transplantation

59th Medical Wing at the Wilford Hall Ambulatory Surgical Center (WHASC)

The 59th Medical Wing Chief Scientist provides the strategic vision, direction, oversight, project management support and technical resources to advance medical modernization efforts with a unique focus on research activities.

Principal Investigator(s)
Col Erik Weitzel
Funded by
Air Force Medical Service
Research Start Date
Status
Active

 The aim of our study is the optimization and evaluation of smart polymer-based systems for graft-targeted immunotherapy, as they could help minimize overall load/exposure (dosing, timing and frequency) of systemic immunosuppressionThis therapeutic platform incorporates injectable, monolithic, self-healing, biocompatible drug eluting hydrogels capable of not only sustained, stable release but also "on- demand" pulsed/burst release upon graft immune responses.Technical Risk(s): Do not anticipate issues at this time. Transition Plan: Project will provide key preclinical insights into safety, feasibility and efficacy of this comprehensive multipronged drug delivery platform for the first time in vascularized composite allotransplantation (VCA).

Collaborative Project
Clinical Care
Regenerative Medicine
The views expressed are those of the authors and do not reflect the official views or policy of the Department of Defense or its Components. Where applicable, the voluntary fully informed consent of the subjects used in this research was obtained as required by 32 CFR 219 and DODI 3216.02_AFI 40-402