ITHACA, New York –
Scientists from Naval Medical Research Unit San Antonio, or NAMRU-SA, Biomaterials and Epidemiology Department, Joint Base San Antonio-Fort Sam Houston, are collaborating with a Cornell University researcher.
Dr. Sylvain Cardin, chief science director, and Dr. Luis Martinez, principal investigator, NAMRU-SA, have been discussing future collaborations involving the gut microbiome and the immune system’s response to wound trauma with Dr. Alireza Abbaspourrad, a nanoparticle technology researcher in his lab at Cornell University’s College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, Department of Food Science in Ithaca, New York.
“A portion of our immune system is actually regulated by our gut microbiome and Dr. Abbaspourrad’s novel research captures the gut physiology on a chip,” Cardin said.
The gut microbiome data will inform NAMRU-SA’s biomedical scientists, already engaged in extensively characterizing the physiology and molecular responses to trauma. Understanding the relationship between the gut microbiome, the immune system, and impaired healing may lead to the development of better treatment strategies for shock and trauma in wounded warfighters.
NAMRU-SA conducts gap-driven combat casualty care, craniofacial, and directed energy research to improve survival, operational readiness, and safety of warfighters.