INSIDE Graduating senior profiles.......................4-8 The art of mentoring doctoral students............ 9 PittNewspaper of the University of PittsburghChronicle Volume IX • Number 15 • April 27, 2008 Commencement ’08 JIM BURKE/CIDDE 2 • Pitt Chronicle • April 27, 2008 Pitt, UPMC, U.S. Navy Unveil Center to Enhance Navy SEALs’ Performance, Lives McGowan Institute Gets Key Role in Program to Use Regenerative Medicine to Help Wounded Soldiers By Michele D. Baum The McGowan Institute for Regen- regenerative medicine projects. By Susan Manko erative Medicine, a collaboration between “Our goal is to use our position as the the University of Pittsburgh and UPMC, international leader in developing restor- Sports medicine and training advances for our SEALs after their service.” has been selected as one of the leaders of ative therapies for battlefield trauma to developed for elite athletes now are being Physical training and conditioning are a national $85 million program to use the improve the outcomes for our wounded,” used to protect and enhance the performance the greatest cumulative source of acute and science of regenerative medicine to develop added Russell, who is founding president and lives of the elite U.S. Navy SEALs. chronic injuries in this group, according to new treatments for wounded soldiers. of the Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Top officials from the University of Pitt’s Scott Lephart, the grant’s principal A new federally funded institution— Medicine International Society. “Our ability Pittsburgh and Naval Special Warfare investigator and director of the new lab. the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative to provide these treatments is in part because unveiled on April 19 a new Human Per- Lephart is a professor in the Department Medicine (AFIRM)—will be made up of the of our team’s long experience in this field formance Research Laboratory, the first of Sports Medicine and Nutrition in Pitt’s U.S. Army Institute of Surgical Research and our broad pipeline of technologies.” facility of its kind within the U.S. Navy, School of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences and consortia involving one team led by Twenty-nine McGowan research teams to be applied specifically to Naval Special (SHRS) and in the Department of Orthopae- McGowan and the Wake Forest Institute for in Pittsburgh will be joined by 16 at Wake Warfare Group TWO’s East Coast-based dic Surgery in Pitt’s School of Medicine, and Regenerative Medicine in Winston-Salem, Forest and 33 more research teams at 15 Navy SEALs. The laboratory is located founding director of Pitt’s Neuromuscular N.C., and another led by Rutgers University, other institutions and companies focusing at the U.S. Naval Amphibious Base Little Research Laboratory, located in the UPMC New Brunswick, N.J., and the Cleveland on regenerative medicine. Several developed Creek, Norfolk, Va. Center for Sports Medicine. Clinic. Each group was awarded treatments are now being evaluated in Designed by sports medicine research- “As with an elite athletic team, mus- $42.5 million. The McGowan- patients. More than 50 technologies ers at Pitt and the University of Pittsburgh culoskeletal injuries significantly limit the Wake Forest team includes from these researchers already Medical Center (UPMC), the new Human war-fighting capability and readiness of the collaborators from 15 other have had an impact on treat- Performance Research Laboratory will Naval Special Warfare combatant force. institutions. ments for illness and injury. study injuries and training techniques of the Optimal physical training and conditioning AFIRM will be codi- Researchers associated SEALs to optimize their tactical readiness. are the cornerstones of the maintenance of rected by Alan J. Russell, with McGowan have launched Researchers aim to reduce the incidence of the weapons platform of the Navy SEAL director of the McGowan more than 10 clinical trials preventable musculoskeletal injuries during operator,” Lephart said. Institute for Regenerative (three with the Army) using training, combat, and recreation; enhance “Collaborating with Dr. Lephart’s Medicine, and Anthony tissue-engineered products force readiness by maximizing the effects research team will enable us to identify Atala, director of the Wake that have now been implanted of training to reduce fatigue and optimize potential gaps in current programs and Forest Institute for Regen- in more than a million patients. performance; and prolong the operational develop a coordinated physical training erative Medicine. The massive In addition to receiving the life as well as enhance quality of life after continuum that is specific to Naval Special project will be dedicated to repairing Alan J. Russell announced government funding, the service. The lab uniquely combines impor- Warfare to prepare for their unique missions. battlefield injuries through the use of universities and the other partners tant advances in sports medicine science This will achieve a critical doctrinal change regenerative medicine―science that takes will provide more than $180 million from with the traditional excellence of the Navy’s in human performance strategies,” Heron advantage of the body’s natural healing academic institutions, industry, and state most elite warriors. said. “The new laboratory will provide the powers to restore or replace damaged tissue and federal agencies for the projects—for With a $2.1 million U.S. Department of impetus and vehicle to deliver Naval Special and organs. Therapies developed by AFIRM a total of more than $250 million available Defense grant, awarded to the Pitt research Warfare Group TWO SEALs with the next also will benefit people in the civilian popu- for soldier regeneration research. team over 2.5 years, the 2,200-square-foot level of individual operator performance lation with burns or severe trauma as a result laboratory employs state-of-the-art and overall musculoskeletal longevity,” of illness or injury. biomechanical and physiological he added. “For the first time in the history of instrumentation and tech- Under Lephart’s direction, regenerative medicine, we have the opportu- niques currently used for the lab is staffed by exercise nity to bring transformational technologies elite athletes. The new lab- physiologist Greg Hovey to wounded soldiers, and to do so in partner- PittNewspaper ofChronicle the University of Pittsburgh oratory is modeled after and certified athletic trainer ship with the armed services,” Russell said. Pitt’s Neuromuscular Anthony Zimmer, both “This field of science has the potential to PUBLISHER Robert Hill Research Laboratory, a from Pitt. Lephart’s coprin- significantly impact our ability to success- ASSOCIATE PUBLISHER John Harvith world-renowned facility cipal investigators are John fully treat major trauma.” EXECUTIVE EDITOR Linda K. Schmitmeyer for sports injury preven- Abt and Timothy Sell, both The McGowan team has committed to EDITOR Jane-Ellen Robinet tion and performance professors in the Depart- develop clinical therapies over the next five ART DIRECTOR Gary Cravener enhancement, located at ment of Sports Medicine and years that will focus on: STAFF WRITERS Sharon S. Blake the UPMC Center for Sports Nutrition in Pitt’s SHRS. Burn repair; John Fedele Medicine in Pittsburgh. Since The first SEAL (Sea, Air, Wound healing without scarring; Morgan Kelly 1990, the center’s scientists have Land) teams were commissioned Craniofacial reconstruction; Amanda Leff studied and published research Scott Lephart in 1962. Because of the dangers inher- Limb reconstruction, regeneration, Anthony M. Moore findings involving athletes’ body ent in Naval Special Warfare, prospective or transplantation; and Patricia Lomando White positioning and neuromuscular control as SEALs go through what is considered by Compartment syndrome, a condition CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Michele D. Baum they relate to injury and performance. many military experts to be among the related to inflammation after surgery or Robert Knipple “The operator himself is the most toughest training in the world. The most injury that can lead to increased pressure, Gloria Kreps important weapons system of Naval Spe- important trait that distinguishes Navy impaired blood flow, nerve damage, and Gina Scozzaro cial Warfare,” said Captain Chaz Heron, SEALs from all other military forces is that muscle death. Susan Manko commander of Naval Special Warfare SEALs are maritime special forces—they AFIRM will have multiple research Group TWO. “We are always seeking ways strike from and return to the sea. Their teams working in each area. For example, The Pitt Chronicle is published throughout the year by to improve our operators’ success on the stealth and clandestine methods of operation in the area of burns, researchers will pursue University News and Magazines, University of Pittsburgh, battlefield. The last thing I want as a leader allow them to conduct multiple missions treatments including engineered skin 400 Craig Hall, Pittsburgh, PA 15260, is for my men to be engaged in a fair fight. Phone: 412-624-1033, Fax: 412-624-4895, against targets that larger forces cannot products, bioprinting of skin in the field, E-mail: [email protected] Web: www.chronicle.pitt.edu I want every advantage possible to give my approach undetected. There are approxi- and repairs using stem cells derived from operators a better chance for success on the mately 2,600 SEALs in the Navy today, amniotic fluid. The University of Pittsburgh is an affirmative action, equal battlefield. We’re optimistic the research and supporting at least six geographic combatant Russell notes that the team’s ability opportunity institution that does not discriminate upon any practical applications from our Human Per- regions around the world on any given day. to deliver 11 new treatments is based on a basis prohibited by law. formance Research Laboratory will achieve Only men can serve as Navy SEALs. four-year history of working in partnership just that, while improving the quality of life with the U.S. Department of Defense on April 27, 2008 • University of Pittsburgh • 3 UPJ’s Newman Named History Channel’s Teacher of the Year By Robert Knipple Awards Paul Douglas Newman, University of School students.