United States Department of Veterans Affairs

Rehabilitation Research & Development Service

Portfolio Manager in RR&D – Translational and Spinal Cord Injury and Regenerative Medicine Programs.

Audrey Kusiak, PhD

Dr. Kusiak received her PhD in Neuroscience from the College of Medicine at the University of Florida in 1992 and completed postdoctoral work in the Department of Neuromorphology at the Max Planck Institute for Psychiatry at Martinsried, Germany. She became an Intramural Research Training Award Fellow at the National Institute on Aging (NIA) in Baltimore, Maryland, and then a Research Scientist at the NIA. She became the Acting Director of the Defense Spinal Cord and Column Injury Center at Walter Reed Army Medical Center before becoming a Program Analyst in the Repair and Plasticity Cluster at the National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke.

The Portfolio

Spinal Cord Injury and Regenerative Medicine

The portfolio centers on three general areas: spinal cord injury (SCI), peripheral nerve injury (PNI), and tissue engineering (TE). SCI-related research emphasizes the repair and/or stimulation of endogenous repair processes following chronic injury and the development of “humanized” animal models and preclinical functional outcome measures. Similar studies are encouraged for PNI. In addition, this portfolio examines the consequences of SCI and/or PNI (or related diseases), in particular, neuropathic pain. Lastly, the TE portion of the portfolio covers the study of engineered cartilage, bone, and muscle in appropriate animal models. Some examples of studies include—

Chronic SCI

  • Repair of chronically injured spinal cord by using cell therapies, gene therapies, drug or small molecules, bioengineered scaffolds or microspheres, or a combination of agents.
  • Preclinical and clinical outcome measures.
  • Identification of endogenous barriers to successful regeneration or plasticity.
  • Development of clinically relevant animal models.
  • Noninvasive imaging of regenerating axons or use of imaging to track repair processes.
  • Mechanisms underlying SCI and prevention of the consequences of SCI (e.g., dysautonomia, muscle and bone loss, infections, spasticity, pressure ulcers, neuropathic pain)
PNI
  • Repair of injured nerves by using, for example, cell therapy, gene therapy, growth factors, and bioengineered nerve guides.
  • Surgical nerve transfers.
  • Mechanisms underlying the development of neuropathic pain.
  • Development of novel, clinically relevant animal models.
TE
  • Cell and tissue therapies with or without bioengineered scaffolds to repair or replace bone, muscle, cartilage, etc.
  • Bioengineered microspheres to release substances to enhance regeneration or repair.
Chronic (neuropathic) pain as a result of burns, traumatic injury, poor wound healing, or disease (e.g., diabetes)
  • Mechanism(s) underlying central sensitization.
  • Development of novel therapies to treat pain.
  • Development of clinically relevant animal models.

Translational Program

The scope of the Translational Research Program in Neural Repair includes preclinical activities to develop drugs, biologics, and devices aiming to repair or stimulate regeneration and/or replace or restore function of the central or peripheral nervous system injured by, for example,—

  • Age-related disorders and disease (e.g., Alzheimer disease, Parkinson disease, frontal-temporal dementia, hearing loss, macular degeneration, stroke).
  • Neurodegenerative diseases (e.g., multiple sclerosis, amyotrophic lateral sclerosis).
  • Acquired neuropathies (e.g., diabetic, drug/toxin, injury-related, inflammatory).
  • Traumatic injuries to the peripheral or central nervous system (e.g., spinal cord, peripheral nerve and brain injuries, Active Duty-related hearing and vision loss).

See RFA-10-011 for details.

For inquiries regarding the RR&D Spinal Cord Injury and Regenerative Medicine programs, please contact:
Audrey Kusiak, PhD or (202) 443-5765