VA Funds Leading-Edge Limb-Loss Research in Providence

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. (See also fact sheet on individual research projects.)