Current Methods in Peripheral Nerve Regeneration Research

TOPICAL COLLECTIONS

Guest Editor

Shailly Jariwala

The Henry M. Jackson Foundation for the Advancement of the Military Medicine, Inc. and The Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences

Dr. Jariwala is an Assistant Professor with the Regenerative Rehabilitation Medical Research Program, Department of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, at Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences (USUHS) and is responsible for leading, planning, and conducting biomedical research and development in support of a portfolio of projects in regenerative medicine that includes neuro-regeneration, orthopedic tissue repair, biomaterials design, 3D printing and 3D bioprinting. Her group develops therapies that combine physical rehabilitation and regenerative medicine to treat service-related injuries. One of her major research thrusts is in the use of 3D bioprinting to create tissue scaffolds that can be used to enhance the natural repair of damaged tissues. Dr. Jariwala graduated in Biomedical Engineering and obtained her M.S. in 2009 and Ph.D. in 2013 from Syracuse University, where she led efforts in development and characterization of novel acrylic two-solution bone cements for treatment of spinal compression fractures. As a postdoctoral fellow with the Department of Orthopedics and Rehabilitation at Pennsylvania State College of Medicine, she gained vast expertise in design, development, and characterization of orthopaedic biomaterials (bone grafts) and translational research models (osseointegrated implants, mechanical loading of implants). Dr. Jariwala received the prestigious Entrepreneur Fellowship at The Center for the Translation of Rehabilitation Engineering Advances and Technology (TREAT), offered jointly by NIH and Dartmouth Biomedical Engineering Center (DBEC) for Orthopedics in 2016. Dr. Jariwala was the project lead for design, development, manufacturing, and non-clinical regulatory testing of an intra-osseous infusion needle placement guide (TibFinderTM, Class I medical device) and also delivered expert consultation to accelerate commercialization of rehabilitation and assistive technologies, including guidance of FDA regulatory & reimbursement strategies for new medical devices.

Collection Overview

Peripheral nerve injury (PNI) remains a common and challenging clinical problem affecting civilians as well as the military population, due to a higher incidence of combat-related injuries. In particular, penetrating trauma from bullets or shrapnel often causes the transection of nerves. If a nerve is completely transected, the functional recovery is generally poor. Existing therapies which include end-to-end nerve repair, nerve grafts or artificial grafts are limited especially for transections of significant size (>3 cm), since any stretching of nerves can lead to scarring, which prevents neural regeneration. Combinatorial approaches seem to be emerging as a potential solution to tackle this challenge. This methods collection aims to provide an outlook into potential combinatorial approaches that would help engineer and enhance peripheral nerve repair. The scope of the collection includes, but is not limited to, the following topics:

Regenerative Rehabilitation approaches for nerve repair – combining rehabilitation strategies (e.g., exercise, electrical stimulation, etc.) with regenerative therapies (e.g., stem cell therapy, growth factors, biologics, etc.)
Photobiomodulation therapy (PBMT) and vascularization strategies – Combining low level light therapy (LLLT) strategies with regenerative approaches (biologics, conduits) to improve nerve repair and vascularization at the site of injury.
Multifunctional nerve conduits fabricated using combinatorial approaches including 3D bioprinting, which also accommodate nerve vasculature and other physiological features relevant to nerve architecture.
Pre-clinical models for large-gap nerve repair (> 3cm gaps).
Gene Therapy in combination with nerve guides.