Shanmugasundaram Natesan
US Army Institute of Surgical Research | USA
Title: Regenerative technologies for combat burn injuries
Biography
Biography: Shanmugasundaram Natesan
Abstract
Burns are a significant problem in combat casualty care. Since 2003, the USAISR burn center has cared for more than 992 military burn casualties and 4500 civilian burn victims. According to the American Burn Association (ABA), approximately 45,000 have burn injuries requiring medical treatment with about 3,500 cases resulting in death. Despite biomaterialadvancements, the treatment of burn injuries by autologous skin graft remains largely the preferred standard-of-care. The major rate limiting step in treating these burn wounds is the regeneration of functional skin layers to avoid further complications and multiple revision surgeries. Some of the currently available artificial skin substitutes try to address this problem, unfortunately, they are less successful in large burn wounds. To address these shortcomings we are investigating the therapeutic benefits of adipose derived mesenchymal stem cells, acellular extracellular matrices and hydrogel based regenerative technolgies to address the clinical shortcomings of current skin substitutes. We envision adipose derived stem cell based tissue engineered skin equivalents will provide beneficial effects to treat severe burn wounds and improve patient outcomes