Medical Technology
Abstract
This Program Element (PE) supports application of knowledge gained through basic research to refine drugs, vaccines, medical devices, diagnostics, medical practices/procedures, and other preventive measures essential to the protection and sustainment of Warfighter health. Research is conducted in five principal areas: Combat Casualty Care; Military Operational Medicine; Military Relevant Infectious Diseases Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine; and Systems Biology/Network Sciences. Research is funded in six projects. Project 869 refines knowledge and technologies on screening tools and preventive measures for Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) and mild traumatic brain injuries, physiological monitors, and interventions to protect Warfighter's from injuries resulting from operational stress, and exposure to hazardous environments and materials. Also conducts research on medically valid testing devices (i.e. the test mannequins that are true to the human form and physiologically and anatomically accurate) and predictive models used for the refinement of Warfighter protective equipment. This project is being coordinated with the Defense Health Program. Starting in FY17 the FH2 funding and research will be consolidated into this project. Additionally, starting in FY17 the toxic substances research efforts will move from project VB4 to project 869. Project 870 designs and refines drugs, vaccines, medical diagnostic assays/tests devices, other preventive measures for protection and treatment against naturally occurring infectious diseases and wound infections of military importance, as identified by worldwide medical surveillance and military threat analysis. This project is being coordinated with the Defense Health Program. Project 874 identifies and evaluates drugs, biologics (products derived from living organisms), medical devices, and diagnostics for field trauma care systems, resuscitation, and life support, and post-evacuation restorative and rehabilitative care. Focus is identifying more effective critical care technologies and protocols to treat severe bleeding, traumatic brain injury, burns and other combat related traumatic injuries, and treatments for ocular (eye) injury and visual system dysfunction. Additional focus areas are laboratory and animal studies of regenerating skin, muscle, nerves, and bone tissue for the care and treatment of combat trauma casualties. This project is being coordinated with the Defense Health Program. In FY15 and 16 this project funds both Combat Casualty Care and Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine efforts. In FY17 the Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine efforts will be funded in project ET4. Project ET4, which is a restructure of efforts funded elsewhere in this Program Element, starts in FY17 and the funding for the Clinical and Rehabilitative Medicine Research Program moves from project 874 to project ET4. Project ET4 identifies and evaluates drugs, biologics, medical devices, treatments and diagnostics for post-evacuation restorative, regenerative and rehabilitative care, as well as systems for use by field medics and surgeons for ocular trauma. Research focus is on identifying more effective technologies and protocols to treat ocular injury and visual system dysfunction, as well as laboratory and animal studies for regenerating skin, muscle, nerves, vascular and bone tissues for the care and treatment of battle-injured casualties. This project is being coordinated with the Defense Health Program. Project FH2 conducts applied research focused on sustainment of a healthy Warfighters throughout the entire deployment life cycle. Starting in FY17 the FH2 funding and research will be consolidated into project 869. Project VB4 includes applied research in systems biology to provide a highly effective mechanism to integrate biological tests and computer simulations in clinical trials and in animal studies. The PTSD and Coagulopathy exemplars have demonstrated the power of an iterative systems biology approach and are moving projects related to objective diagnostics and improved and personalized therapeutic strategies. Development of the SysBioCube (a data analysis, management and integration system) has provided an ability for complex collaborative efforts to share, process and evaluate data using innovative technologies. These concerted refinement efforts using systems biology are showing reduction of time and funding for solutions to intractable problems of critical military importance. Starting in FY17 the toxic substances efforts will move from project VB4 to project 869. The cited work is consistent with the Assistant Secretary of Defense, Research and Engineering Science and Technology, focus areas and the Army Modernization Strategy. All medical applied research is conducted in compliance with Food and Drug Administration (FDA) or Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) regulations. The FDA requires thorough testing in animals (preclinical testing) to ensure safety and, where possible, effectiveness prior to evaluation in controlled human clinical trials (upon transition to 6.3 Advanced Technology Development). This PE focuses on research and refinement of technologies such as product formulation and purification and laboratory test refinement with the aim of identifying candidate solutions. This work often involves testing in animal models. The EPA also requires thorough testing of products, such as sterilants, disinfectants, repellents, and insecticides to ensure the environment is adequately protected before these products are licensed for use. Program refinement and execution is externally peer-reviewed and fully coordinated with all Services as well as other agencies through the Joint Technology Coordinating Groups of the Armed Services Biomedical Research Evaluation and Management (ASBREM) Community of Interest (COI). The ASBREM COI, formed under the authority of the Assistant Secretary of Defense for Research and Engineering, serves to facilitate coordination and prevent unnecessary duplication of effort within the Department of Defenses (DoD) biomedical research and refinement community, as well as their associated enabling research areas. Work funded in this project PE is fully coordinated with efforts undertaken in PE 0603002A and the Defense Health Program. Work in this PE is performed by the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), Silver Spring, MD and its overseas laboratories; Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases (USAMRIID) and the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine (AFIRM), Fort Detrick, MD; Army Center for Environmental Health Research (USACEHR), Fort Detrick, MD; Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine (USARIEM), Natick, MA; the Army Dental Trauma Research Detachment and the Army Institute of Surgical Research (USAISR), Joint Base San Antonio, TX; Army Aeromedical Research Laboratory (USAARL), Fort Rucker, AL; and the Naval Medical Research Center (NMRC), Silver Spring, MD.
Document Details
- Document Type
- R2 Budgetary Justification
- Publication Date
- Oct 01, 2017
- Source ID
- 0602787A_2_2040_PB_2017
- Change Summary Explanation
- Service Agency Name
- Army
Entities
Organizations
- United States Army
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