led by Dr. Singh, include: (from left to right)
Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, Dr. Shi Fu, Dr. Marcia
Simon, Dr. Singh and Huiting Luo.
A research team led by Research Associate Professor of Surgery, Gurtej Singh, PhD, of the Renaissance School of Medicine (RSOM) and Stony Brook Medicine's Department of Surgery, has been awarded two grants totaling $696,431. These grants will build on previously awarded seed grants from the Department of Surgery and enable the team to continue research into tissue regeneration and the future of wound healing for patients with severe injuries.
The awards from The Mathers Foundation and the Technology Accelerator Fund are for $646,431 and $50,000, respectively. Dr. Singh's team previously won the Long Island High Tech Incubator's (LIHTI) 2024 Venture Champions (VC) Challenge in the Life Sciences category for this high-tech wound-care solution and advanced healing patch. In addition, Dr. Singh had also received seed grants from the Stony Brook Department of Surgery in 2017 and 2019.
"The Department of Surgery has supported our early career research faculty through seed grants; and the grants awarded to Dr. Singh and his team are a testament of the importance of these investments," said Department of Surgery Chairman Apostolos Tassiopoulos, MD, FACS. "This support will empower the research team, led by Dr. Singh, to continue pursuing innovative ideas, enhance cross-departmental collaborations and translate research findings to the next generation of therapies. We are thrilled with the demonstrated confidence to our department and remain committed to pushing the boundaries of discovery and making meaningful scientific contributions."
"This support will empower the research team...to continue pursuing innovative ideas, enhance cross-departmental collaborations and translate research findings to the next generation of therapies." - Apostolos Tassiopoulos, MD
“The seed grants from the Department of Surgery were truly the initial catalysts for our research in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine," said Dr. Singh. "They allowed us to purchase a 3D bioprinter and generate the first critical data on vascularized skin constructs. That early support made this line of research possible and directly contributed to the success of our Mathers Foundation grant. These internal funds gave us the flexibility to explore early-stage, high-risk ideas that traditional sources might not support. My team and I are deeply appreciative of the department’s confidence and continued support."
"At Stony Brook Surgery, our culture of collaboration between clinical and basic sciences is driving transformative research." - Gurtej Singh, PhD
The most recent grant from The Mathers Foundation was awarded for Dr. Singh's team's proposal, "DEVA Constructs: Mechanistic Investigation of Vascular Integration and ECM Remodeling in Engineered Skin Tissues.” The grant money will be disseminated over three years and will become available on September 1, 2025. According to The Mathers Foundation Website, the foundation was established in 1983 to honor G. Harold Mathers and Leila Young Mathers and is "...dedicated to advancing knowledge in the life sciences by funding bold, basic scientific research with the potential to transform human health."
The TAF grant was awarded to Dr. Singh and his team for the similarly title proposal, “DEVA: A Vascularized, Shelf-Stable Skin Substitute for Advanced Wound Care.” SUNY Technology Accelerator Fund takes advantage of SUNY being "an intellectual property powerhouse" to "strategically invests in SUNY's most disruptive innovations to accelerate their development." TAF awards are received via "a competitive process that evaluates each technology" for a number of factors including innovativeness.
"Together, these awards allow us to advance from bench science to preclinical validation," said Dr. Singh. Among the next steps enabled by these grants, Dr. Singh and his team will use the funding to dissect the biological mechanisms of inosculation and optimize their vascularized scaffold design. And in a recent development, Dr. Singh shared that Stony Brook University's Intellectual Property Partners (IPP) recently filed a utility patent related to the team's vascularized skin construct design...a major step toward commercialization.
Dr. Singh's team includes Dr. Alexander B. Dagum, MD (former Chief of the Stony Brook Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery); Dr. Marcia Simon, PhD (Oral Biology and Pathology, School of Dental Medicine); Dr. Miriam Rafailovich, PhD (Materials Science and Chemical Engineering); and graduate students Shi Fu, BS (whose PhD work was integral to the success of the research and funding, and who will continue as a postdoctoral fellow on this project); Huiting Luo, BS (whose PhD research for this project is making strong progress); and Shiffoni Sukhlal, ScM. In addition, Dr. Singh also expressed deep gratitude for the following people who contributed to the team's success (listed alphabetically): Andria Adler (Stony Brook Medicine Manager, Clinical Award Administration), Dr. Thomas V. Bilfinger, MD; Dr. Rachel Brownlee, DVM; Dr. Dee Dao (Associate Director for Business Development and Investment at Stony Brook University's Center for Biotechnology), Peter Donnelly (Director, Venture Development at LIHTI), Dr. Kevin Gardner, Vice President for Research and Innovation; Dr. Nicos Labropoulos, PhD; members of the Division of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery (Dr. Duc Bui, MD; Dr. Tara Huston, MD; Dr. Sami Khan, MD; and Dr. Aleksandra Krajewski, MD), Mary Serra (Stony Brook Senior Grants and Contracts Specialist, AOR, OSP Pre-Award team), Dr. Shruti Sharma (Portfolio Manager at LIHTI), Dr. A. Laurie W. Shroyer, PhD; Dr. Adam J. Singer, MD; Dr. Apostolos Tassiopoulos, MD (Chair of the Department of Surgery), Andrew Wooten (Executive Director at LIHTI).
"At Stony Brook Surgery, our culture of collaboration between clinical and basic sciences is driving transformative research," said Dr. Singh.
FOR ADDITIONAL INFORMATION, PLEASE VISIT THESE WEB SITES
- The Mathers Foundation
- Technology Accelerator Fund
- Renaissance School of Medicine
- Stony Brook Medicine Department of Surgery
- Stony Brook Surgery Research
- Dr. Gurtej Singh
- Stony Brook Medicine
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