Burns. Diabetic ulcers. Gunshot wounds. Bedsores. The treatment of these and other wounds may improve, thanks to a new initiative of the National Institute of General Medical Sciences (NIGMS), a component of the National Institutes of Health (NIH).
The institute announced today that it will award $13 million over four years to create four centers to develop innovative therapies for acute and chronic wounds.
Central to the effort is bringing together experts from many fields: microbiologists, engineers, cell biologists, dermatologists, and other physicians. The goal is to deepen understanding of wound healing and apply this knowledge to enhance treatment.
"The new centers create interdisciplinary groups of basic scientists and clinicians to work together on their most innovative ideas," said NIH Director Elias A. Zerhouni, M.D. "Focusing the diverse expertise and approaches of these teams will integrate current knowledge about how wounds heal and generate new strategies to enhance and speed the healing process."
The new Centers for Innovative Wound Healing Research include a total of 36 investigators at 8 universities and medical centers. The wound healing centers and their lead principal investigators are:
NIGMS ( http://www.nigms.nih.gov ), a component of the National Institutes of Health, supports basic biomedical research that is the foundation for advances in disease diagnosis, treatment, and prevention.
The National Institutes of Health (NIH) -- "The Nation's Medical Research Agency" -- includes 27 Institutes and Centers and is a component of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. It is the primary federal agency for conducting and supporting basic, clinical and translational medical research, and it investigates the causes, treatments, and cures for both common and rare diseases. For more information about NIH and its programs, visit www.nih.gov .