Dr. Dy’s laboratory has two main lines of investigation:
Improving the delivery of care for patients with brachial plexus injury:
- PLANeT Study – Prospective Longitudinal Assessment of Nerve Trauma. PLANeT is a multicenter prospective cohort study for patients with adult traumatic brachial plexus injury. This NIH R01 funded study is centered on selecting the most appropriate outcome measures for patients with BPI.
i. Collaborators: David M. Brogan, MD MSc; Scott W. Wolfe, MD; Steve K. Lee, MD; R. Glenn Gaston MD; Bryan Loeffler, MD; Sami Tuffaha MD; Allan Belzberg MD; Mihir Desai MD; Harvey Chim, MD; Y. Katie Liu, MD; Jeffrey Friedrich MD; Jason Ko MD; Sameer Puri MD; Brendan Smetana MD
ii. Funding: National Institutes of Health; American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand - Enhancing Patient Education Through a ‘Journey Guide’ For Adult Traumatic Brachial Plexus Injury. We are developing a BPI-specific patient education program that will include both printed and web-optimized materials for patients and collaborators.
i. Collaborators: David M. Brogan MD, MSc; Mychal Voorhees
ii. Funding: National Institutes of Health - Wearable Sensors to Measure Function after Brachial Plexus Reconstruction
i. Collaborators: David M. Brogan MD, MSc; Mychal Voorhees
ii. Funding: Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation
Identifying opportunities for improvement in delivery of orthopedic care
- Moving to Solutions: Understanding and Overcoming Orthopedic Disparities
i. Funding: Orthopaedic Research and Education Foundation - Cost and Orthopaedic Upper Extremity Trauma: Financial Burden in Upper Extremity Trauma
i. Collaborators: Daniel Pereira MD
ii. Funding: American Foundation for Surgery of the Hand - Frequency and Risk Factors for Recurrent Violent Injury
i. Funding: Washington University Institute of Clinical and Translational Sciences Pilot Grant
Dr. Brogan’s laboratory has two main lines of investigation:
Evaluating techniques to improve nerve repair and regeneration
We are interested in the role of SARM-1 in nerve repair and regeneration. The lab has ongoing projects evaluating the inflammatory cascade after nerve injury in the absence of SARM-1 and the downstream effects on both neurogenic pain and nerve regeneration.
Nerve Imaging
Our lab seeks to develop novel near-infrared fluorescent probes for pre-clinical and clinical use in the operating room to identify nerve injury and predict recovery. Our current focus is to explore the role of calpain and atrogenes on development of neurogenic muscle atrophy after nerve injury as well as to better characterize the role of NAD+ in Wallerian degeneration. We accomplish this using a variety of in-vivo animal models and novel imaging techniques.
Biomarkers of Nerve Injury
We have ongoing clinical studies to evaluate the use of serum biomarkers for the diagnosis and prognosis of nerve injuries and nerve compression. We seek to identify markers that could potentially assist with surgical planning and timing of surgery after nerve injury.