Center for Advanced Bioengineering for Soldier Survivability
There are 149,000 U.S. troops in Iraq today and many more in Afghanistan and other places around the globe. One of the key issues surrounding today’s troops is soldier survivability: the ability to not only protect soldiers from injury or death but to also dramatically improve the survival and rehabilitation of soldiers who are wounded. Combat casualty care begins at the front lines of battle and continues into rehabilitation. Current experiences in trauma care in Iraq and Afghanistan have highlighted some critical issues in combat care including the effectiveness and shelf life of blood products, the reduction of wound infections, and the reconstruction of bone, tissue and facial structures. Army surgical research now concentrates on issues such as hemostasis, resuscitation, bone tissue injury, soft tissue injury, trauma informatics, clinical trauma, and bioprosthetics. These seven areas focus on saving the soldiers’ lives, preventing viable tissue loss, and returning the soldiers back to duty or into civilian life as soon as medically possible.
Georgia Tech Students working on CABSS, L to R: Graduate students Chris Lee (BME) and Chris Dosier (ME), as well as Georgia Tech undergrad, Chris Erdman (BME)
Fundamental science and engineering research is the centerpiece of a new focus that is aimed at designing the soldier system of the future, which will cross disciplinary boundaries focusing on protection; injury intervention and cure; and human performance improvement. As part of that research focus, the Center for Advanced Bioengineering for Soldier Survivability (CABSS) has been established in the College of Engineering (COE) at Georgia Tech.
Tech Researchers Seek Solutions
Dr. Barbara D. Boyan, COE Associate Dean for Research and the Price Gilbert, Jr. Chair of Tissue Engineering, is leading the new CABSS Center. Research initiatives include orthopaedic trauma and wound care, as well as reconstruction and regeneration of multiple tissues to restore function following injuries that involve loss of limbs and facial structures. With funding from the U.S. Department of Defense through its Institute of Surgical Research, the Orthopaedic Trauma Research Program, and the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine, as well as from corporate partners, Boyan’s goal is to establish funding for developing new technologies. In addition to musculoskeletal tissues, CABSS will investigate enhancing the interface between materials and nerve cells enabling the development of robotic prostheses that integrate directly with the patient’s tissues.
Working with Boyan in the new center are Associate Director Dr. Robert E. Guldberg, Professor of Mechanical Engineering, and Drs. Zvi Schwartz and Ravi Bellamkonda, Professors of Biomedical Engineering. The team includes Georgia Tech graduate students, Chris Lee and Chris Dosier, as well as Georgia Tech undergrad, Chris Erdman. In addition, Boyan has put together an advisory board of clinicians including Dr. Michael Yaszemski of the Mayo Clinic, a former colonel in the U.S. Air Force, and Dr. David M. Cohen, a cardiovascular transplant surgeon from San Antonio, Texas and a former colonel in the U.S. Army, to help provide expertise as CABSS begins work on soldier survivability research. They, along with other clinician and industry representatives, form a key group of experts who are focused on the new medical technologies to aid U.S. soldiers.
Next Generation Medical Research
“Not only are we working to increase survivability for soldiers,” said Boyan, “but we want to give them full and productive lives following an injury. Many of these soldiers will need a lifetime of care, so we need to start applying the next generation of medicine to help them with their injuries.” The next generation of medicine includes advances in prosthetics, tissue engineering and even reconstructive surgery. Research funds for CABSS will enable the development of a partnership to include new investigators in regenerative medicine, and cranial and maxillofacial surgery at Morehouse College of Medicine, Children’s Healthcare of Atlanta, Emory University, and the Medical College of Georgia to work with engineering faculty at Georgia Tech.
Georgia has one of the largest resident military populations in the country engaged in current combat zones. Providing advanced care and treatment for the personnel involved in these conflicts is not only a national imperative but has specific long term impacts on Georgia. The U.S. Army Medical Department’s Medical Technology program actively supports focused research on medical, survivability, and future warrior technology areas for the soldiers of today as well as the future.
Priorities for New Center
Priorities identified by the U.S. Army, as well as CABSS, involve improved healing of segmental bone defects; improved healing of massive soft tissue defects; improved wound healing; tissue viability assessment and wound irrigation. In addition, the U.S. Army is funding research on demographic and injury data on the modern battlefield; long-term outcomes of casualties; improved pre-hospital care of orthopaedic and craniofacial injuries; and the development of novel light weight materials for use in integrated robotic prostheses.
There remains, however, the critical need for enabling technologies to support the translation of research findings to medical products which are safe and effective. One of the unique aspects of CABSS is the development of research teams that will include clinicians with expertise in combat medical care, and biomedical engineers and bioscientists with industry and regulatory expertise to shorten the process from invention to clinical use. According to Boyan, industry partnerships are crucial in taking technologies from the bench to the market place in a relatively short period of time.
“Our hope,” said Boyan, “is with industry and educational collaboration CABSS can make a dramatic difference quickly by bringing medical products to market, which will aid the long term care and rehabilitation of soldiers wounded in conflict.”
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