Funds Leading-Edge Limb-Loss Research in Providence (12/8/04)

VA Funds Leading-Edge Limb-Loss Research in Providence
The Department of Veteran’s Affairs has awarded $7.2 million to the Providence VA Medical Center to establish a broad-based research program to restore natural function to amputees. The chief goal is to create “biohybrid” limbs that meld human tissue with a prosthesis controlled by an amputee’s own muscles and brain signals. The Providence VA Medical Center is working with Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology to improve the lives of amputees, particularly Iraq war veterans.

PROVIDENCE, R.I. — With $7.2 million in funding from the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), the Providence VA Medical Center, Brown University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have begun a five-year, multidisciplinary research project to restore arm and leg function to amputees.

At the end of the project, scientists hope to have created “biohybrid” limbs that will use regenerated tissue, lengthened bone, titanium prosthetics and implantable sensors that allow an amputee to use nerves and brain signals to move the arm or leg. The aim is to give amputees – particularly war veterans – better mobility and control of their limbs and reduce the discomfort and infections common with current prosthetics.

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