Oregon Medical Laser Center shares grant to treat soldiers

Oregon Medical Laser Center has received a portion of the U.S. Army's $85 million grant to develop cell therapies to help heal wounded soldiers. It was the Northwest's only research facility to receive part of the grant.

Oregon Medical Laser Center, located at Providence St. Vincent Medical Center, was awarded $1.5 million -- $300,000 a year for five years. The center will collaborate with research facilities across the country to form the Armed Forces Institute of Regenerative Medicine. The institute will be dedicated to repairing battlefield injuries through the use of regenerative medicine, science that uses the body's natural healing powers to restore or replace damaged tissue and organs.

Dr. Kenton Gregory, Oregon Medical Laser Center medical director whose intellectual property spawned fast-growing Portland medical device company HemCon Medical Technologies Inc., and his team at the center will work to develop therapies to help heal battlefield trauma to the arms and legs. As many as 20,000 American men and women have such injuries.

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"Due to the extensive use of explosive devices, this war has caused unprecedented damage to our soldiers. They will have disabilities for the rest of their lives if we don't find a way to help them," Gregory said.

The center will focus on the most common extremity wound -- compartment syndrome. Compartment syndrome is acute swelling following a blow to the body. The swelling causes pressure that cuts off blood supply, which can lead to irreversible nerve and muscle damage.

The $85 million research project will be directed jointly by Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the University of Pittsburgh, the Cleveland Clinic and Rutgers University.