Researchers hope to make lifelike limbs for amputees

The effort includes metallurgists, cellular biologists, computer scientists, neuroscientists and engineers.
PROVIDENCE JOURNAL
The U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has selected a research consortium for a $7.2 million effort to create lifelike limbs for Iraq war amputees -- by melding live tissue with mechanical devices.
The researchers hope to develop biohybrid limbs that would allow amputees to control prosthetic arms and legs with their own muscles and nerve cells. They will try to lengthen bones, regenerate cartilage, blend skin with metal, and power artificial joints with implants in the brain and microchips in the muscle.
The project draws together five disparate research programs -- four at Brown University and one at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology -- to find ways to restore natural function to amputees, especially those who lost limbs in Iraq.
Nine out of 10 soldiers injured in the Iraq war survive, the highest survival rate ever, thanks to body armor and improvements in casualty care. But many survivors have disabling injuries, especially lost limbs. The Walter Reed Army Medical Center, in Washington, D.C., has treated about 200 people who suffered traumatic amputations in Iraq, and there might be others treated in other Army hospitals. Any number of them could participate in the Brown-VA project.
"They want to go back to their units," said Dr. Roy K. Aaron, a Brown professor of orthopedics and the project's leader. "These are people who have their whole lives ahead of them. We owe a lot to them."
Research center
Although the financing is for five years, the researchers intend to make the Center for Restorative and Regenerative Medicine a permanent part of Brown University and the Providence VA Medical Center. In addition to the $7.2 million, the VA has committed $6 million to build a rehabilitation research center at its Providence hospital, making Providence the 14th such center in the VA system.
Today, amputees cope with prosthetic limbs that can be awkward or painful, and that often poorly mimic what real limbs do. The researchers will try to develop better ways to connect the prostheses to the body, to establish two-way communication between the nervous system and the limb, and to regenerate lost or damaged tissue, especially cartilage.
"We're trying to create a limb that better senses the intent of the user," Aaron said.
Iraq war amputees will be recruited to come to the Providence VA hospital for surgery and fitting of the prosthetics. Others who have lost their limbs will also be eligible. But much of the work, especially in the beginning, will take place in the laboratory.
Corners of science
The project harnesses expertise from distant corners of science -- pairing metallurgists and cellular biologists, computer scientists and physicians, neuroscientists and engineers.
"We had the pieces. It was just a matter of bringing them all together," said Regina Correa-Murphy, administrative officer for research and development at the Providence VA Medical Center.
"This group at Brown has brought a set of skills, ideas, talent and expertise that is in some respects unique and complements what is already going on in the system," said Dr. Stephan Fihn, acting director of research and development for the Department of Veterans Affairs.
"The mantra in rehab research for the VA, and all of our research, is to get patients back to a functional, useful productive life."