Xiaojun Yu Receives ~$2M from the Department of Defense to Advance Treatment of Peripheral Nerve Injuries

The professor of biomedical engineering will improve upon existing commercial surgical methods by developing an alternative technology that facilitates nerve reconnection

Principal Investigator Xiaojun Yu, professor and associate chair of graduate studies in the Department of Biomedical Engineering at Stevens Institute of Technology, along with Co-Investigator Sangamesh Kumbar, professor at the University of Connecticut Health Center, recently received a grant of nearly $2 million from the Department of the Defense for their project, "Bioactive Nerve Grafts for Peripheral Nerve Regeneration." In this project, they will improve upon treatments of peripheral nerve injuries.

Xiaojun Yu, Professor and Associate Chair of Graduate Studies, Department of Biomedical Engineering

Peripheral nerve injuries with large gaps commonly result in long-term decreased sensation and motor function, which greatly impacts a patient's quality of life, according to Yu.

Every year, over half a million Americans suffer from peripheral nerve injuries that require surgical treatment with a synthetic nerve guidance conduit (NGC), which facilitates nerve reconnection to bridge the injury gap. However, a major challenge of current treatment modalities is insufficient functional recovery. This includes the motor processes of regaining movement and strength in the muscles that were affected by the injury; as well as the restoration of sensory functions such as touch, temperature, and pain. Overall, the goal of treatment is to restore as much bodily function as possible, allowing individuals to regain their ability to perform daily activities.

"Approximately 600,000 peripheral nerve injuries result in an estimated five million disability days annually in the U.S. alone," said Yu.

While commercial NGCs are successful in treating peripheral nerve injuries in some cases, unfortunately, they have many shortcomings. They may have poor mechanical properties; they usually lack sufficient bioactivities (i.e., the treatment's effect on living tissues), they lead to poor functional recovery in the repair of large nerve injury gaps; and they can even fail at nerve defect regeneration entirely.

Yu and Kumbar propose a new graft system as an alternative to commercial NGCs.

Using 3D printing and electrospinning, they will create a bioactive NGC to deliver protein factors and repurposed drugs that improve large-gap nerve regeneration. These new bioactive NGCs will be mechanically stronger and may even improve the rate of nerve regeneration and recovery.

"Our proposed graft system may provide an alternative to commercial NGCs with superior clinical utility," Yu said. "Hopefully, it will help to lead to better quality of life for patients, lessen the burden on families and caregivers, and reduce associated healthcare costs."

This work was supported by The Assistant Secretary of Defense for Health Affairs endorsed by the Department of Defense, in the amount of $1,999,336, through the Peer Reviewed Medical Research Program under Award Number HT9425-24-1-0137. Opinions, interpretations, conclusions, and recommendations contained herein are those of the author(s) and are not necessarily endorsed by the Department of Defense.