Work Summary
My lab focusses on drug repurposing to treat nerve injury, and nerve dependent manifestations of disease. We have found striking effects of two drugs, erythropoietin and 4-aminopyridine in the treatment of a large group of nerve dependent disorders ranging from traumatic peripheral nerve injury to gut dysmotility and wound healing.
Research Interest
John Elfar, MD, FAAOS, FAOA, FACS is an Orthpaedic Surgeon with subspecialty certifications in hand and upper extremity surgery as well as orthopaedic sports medicine. He directs a laboratory focussed on regenerative medicine as applied to severe trauma.
The laboratory is interested in translational research in orthopaedics. The group specifically focuses on adjuvant therapy to assist in regenerative recovery from severe mangling trauma. The group has recently undertaken clinical translational trials on nerve injury and wound healing with the overall goal to treat some quite intractable consequences of trauma and surgery. Current focusses include nerve recovery, amputation salvage, gastrointestinal dysmotility, and wound healing soft tissue defects and burns.
This work has met with some favor at both the United States Department of Defense (DOD) and National Institutes of Health (NIH). Pre-clinical (translational) work is driven by extramural funding, as well as the clinical trial work that results. We have obtained two Investigational New Drug Approvals from the United States Food and Drug Administration, and have several more applications planned. Our overarching goal is to use our discoveries to improve outcomes using an adjuvant model of trauma care.
