Dr. Aziz Ghahary (Plastic Surgery) has recently received two grants from the Canadian Institute of Health Research (CIHR).
The first grant is to fund the Proof of Principle (POP1) research that is geared to prepare prospective technology for commercialization. Dr. Ghahary and his Ph.D. student, Ryan Hartwell, proposed to make a novel reconstitutable skin substitute powder that can easily form a liquid or solid scaffold once hydrated. This low cost injectable collagen-hydrogel hybrid can rapidly form a solid gel matrix within a wound or within any void cavity. Both the architecture and mechanical properties of this injectable matrix are unique among currently available scaffolds, as it mimics normal tissue architecture, cellularity and reduces contracture.
The second grant awarded Dr. Ghahary and his colleagues, Dr. K. McElwee and Dr. Reza Jalili proposed the use of IDO expressing dermal fibroblasts to prevent the progression of the autoimmune disease Alopecia Areata. IDO is an enzyme that degrades the essential amino acid tryptophan and thus suppresses the growth of activated immune cells. IDO based therapies can also be used to prevent the progression of other immune diseases such as type I diabetes.
posted : 2014-February-17