Research Lab

Our research is driven exclusively by patient need. From working directly in inpatients units, intensive care units, clinics and nursing homes, basic science and clinical research teams are fully committed to translating patient need at the bedside into a research question. Our ultimately goals are discoveries that can benefit patients with chronic wounds.

We have established a biomedical informatics laboratory funded by the National Institutes of Health and devoted to the determining if using the WEMR can decrease amputations in those with diabetic foot ulcers and prevent stage IV pressure ulcers. Through recording each patient visit in the WEMR, we have the capability to identify when treatment needs to be changed for a non-healing wound, this obviating amputation or sepsis. This part of the research core consists of three full-time post-doctoral fellows, all of whom have surgical training and are fully devoted to improving outcomes for the patients they see every day.

Healing a chronic wound is not solely about providing access to care. Basic science research at the molecular and cellular level is critical in understanding why certain wounds do not heal. Patient need must drive the science and we have successfully translated that need into new ways of treating chronic wounds. Our group has identified the first gene that stops a wound from healing, c-myc, and future therapies may be developed targeting this gene.

With NIH support, the goals of the basic science arm are to:

• Determine the 'wound genome' -e.g. determine the set of genes which regulate healing and develop topical gene-therapy based on that knowledge
• Continue to identify molecular markers that can guide surgeons how far to debride a wound.
• The union of basic science and clinical outcomes research will advance the field of wound healing, but more importantly, save patients live and limbs.

Research Initiatives

Learn the various facets of research that are undertaken at the NYU Division of Wound Healing and Regenerative Medicine including clinical outcomes, molecular biology, informatics and surgical technique . Highlights include recent achievements and ongoing projects.

World Union Wound Healing Society 2008
The team recently represented NYU at the World Union of Wound Healing Societies 2008 where we presented 5 posters and 3 oral presentations. The full posters and talks are included here.