Cool: Mayo teams with others to heal soldiers' injuries

Having heard disabled Vietnam Vet Tom McDonald talk yesterday at the VA about his prosthetic device, seeing a story like Mayo teams with others to heal soldiers' injuries in the Rochester Post Bulletin is welcome news indeed:

By Jeff Hansel
Post-Bulletin, Rochester MN 

Researchers at medical centers nationwide, including Mayo Clinic, will collaborate to build biological bridges to help injured GIs heal.

Scientists will use $85 million to develop new medical treatments for wounded soldiers.

The national consortium includes 15 academic medical centers, a statement from Mayo says.

What scientists learn will be "translated" for use in the field and in the medical setting. Private companies are ready to develop new technologies based on the research findings.

"Our team at Mayo will be responsible for nerve regeneration, as the lead organization," said Dr. Michael Yaszemski, a Mayo orthopedic surgeon and biomedical engineer, who also serves as a brigadier general in the U.S. Air Force Reserve.

Bone regeneration will be Mayo's secondary role. Other institutions will focus on brain injury, burns and transplants.

The collaboration, called the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, or AFIRM, will search for ways to help "repair, replace, restore and regenerate damaged tissues and organs" for soldiers whose bodies otherwise might be unable to heal properly.

"If one breaks a bone, most of the time nature does a good job. We put the bones together, hold them in place and it heals," Yaszemski said. But war injuries often include damage that's not easily repaired normally. Too large a gap in a bone or nerve, can prevent regrowth. . . .

. . .Yaszemski, a spinal surgery specialist, said some spinal injuries lack what's necessary for healing and return-of-function. Or the nature of the injury itself precludes healing. Researchers want to change that.

AFIRM's money comes from the Army Medical Research and Material Command, the Office of Naval Research, and the National Institutes of Health.

"The great motivation is these very significant injuries that our men and women in service are experiencing," Yaszemski said.

Thanks General Yaszemski!  MPR reports Mayo Clinic joins group battling war injuries.