Researchers Receive Trauma Care Grants from UT System

Four University of Texas at Dallas research projects recently received grants totaling nearly $750,000 from the Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative (TRC4), an initiative of the UT System that funds groundbreaking trauma research and product development across its institutions.

Combined with grants received in 2024, UT Dallas researchers to date have received more than $1.2 million from the TRC4 program.

“The TRC4 grants enable us to transform the care of the courageous men and women who risk their lives every day to defend our nation,” said Dr. Joseph Pancrazio, vice president for research and innovation and professor of bioengineering at UT Dallas. “At UT Dallas, our researchers are pioneering breakthrough therapies and treatments — both on the battlefield and beyond — to ensure our troops receive the support needed.”

Dr. Jane Wigginton, chief medical officer at the Texas Biomedical Device Center, medical director and co-director of UT Dallas’ Clinical and Translational Research Center, and medical science research director at the Center for BrainHealth, received a direct award of $500,000 to fund preparations for a Phase 3 clinical study of closed-loop vagus nerve stimulation (VNS) paired with therapy to enhance recovery of upper-limb function after spinal cord injury.

UT Dallas researchers previously completed a single-site pilot clinical trial for a similar study on targeted plasticity therapy in spinal cord injury patients that suggested the procedure, which uses an implanted VNS device developed at UT Dallas, was safe and had potential to benefit patients. The new funding will facilitate the largest randomized, double-blind study of an implanted device ever performed in individuals with spinal cord injury.

UT Dallas will serve as the lead center for the multisite planning grant, guiding trial development and harmonization across the participating medical institutions. In addition to UT Dallas, several UT System institutions will serve as sites for the clinical study, including UT Southwestern Medical Center, UT Austin, UT Health Science Center at Houston, UT Medical Branch and UT San Antonio.

Dr. Nicholas Dillon, assistant professor of biological sciences in the School of Natural Sciences and Mathematics, received two grants from TRC4. His research focuses on how antibiotic resistance to pathogens — including Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus — evolves, is treated and can be prevented.

One of his projects, for which he received $100,000, involves a potential therapy to treat multidrug-resistant bacterial infections with a combination of antibiotics and bicarbonate, a biological buffer found within humans. Studies have shown that bicarbonate can increase the effectiveness of antibiotics against some bacteria, including strains that have previously developed antibiotic resistance. Dillon’s second project, for which he received $250,000, involves developing effective therapies for treating trauma wounds infected with multiple microorganisms.

Dr. Diana Tavares Ferreira, assistant professor of neuroscience in the School of Behavioral and Brain Sciences, and co-principal investigator Eric Meyers BS’12, MS’18, PhD’17, assistant professor of bioengineering in the Erik Jonsson School of Engineering and Computer Science, received a grant for $99,997 to study whether VNS can enhance recovery from peripheral nerve injury by addressing issues both at the injury site and in the corresponding central nervous system region.

During the period immediately after a peripheral nerve injury, inflammatory processes initiate nerve repair but can impede progress if inflammation becomes chronic. While VNS has been shown to activate a response that reduces excessive inflammation, little is known about its role in nerve regeneration. The project will determine whether VNS immediately after an injury will help repair nerves by mitigating excessive inflammation.