Grants Funded | Trauma Research and Combat Casualty Care Collaborative TRC4

TRC4 Grant Awards

Program Focus Areas

Pre-hospital Care – Research focused on trauma care prior to a patient’s arrival to a hospital.

Innovative and Novel Surgical Support Technologies – Research and technologies that can treat life-threatening injuries of patients who are delayed in receiving definitive surgical care.

Innovative and Novel Devices, Drugs and Therapies – Research and technologies to treat trauma/combat casualty-induced injuries.

Clinical Practice Techniques – Research focused on expanding the scope, speeding the progress, or increasing the efficiency of active trauma/combat casualty research. Improvement of capabilities and partnerships for conducting multi-center, longitudinal, FDA regulated and non-regulated trauma clinical trials.

Trauma System Registries and Information Management – Research designed to assess current trauma care and recovery procedures (e.g. registries, existing data sources). Development of methods to improve coordination of the digital and remote-based patient data capture and collection.

Advanced Complex Wound Management – Research and development of therapies and solutions for traumatic injuries, such as complex burn, soft tissue, open fracture, penetrating torso and brain injury.

Research Areas of Interest

Database/ Registry/ AI/ Observational/ Other
Wound Care/ Extremity/ Blast/ Nerve/ Muscle
Mental Health/ PTSD
Blood Products/ Resuscitation/ Shock
TBI
Burn
Device/ Wearables
Pain Management

Funding Mechanism

Clinical Research: research supported by substantial preliminary or published data.

Early Career Mentored Research: research that is innovative and in the early stages of idea development or is an untested theory that addresses an important problem associated with trauma.

Pre-Clinical Translational Research: research that is supported by substantial preliminary or published data.

Proof of Concept Research: research that is innovative, high risk/high-reward and in the early stages of idea development or is an untested theory that addresses an important problem associated with trauma.

Funding Mechanism Award Amounts

Mechanism 1: Early Career Mentored Research Awards (less than 5 years post-terminal degree): Awards up to $200,000 total costs for research that is innovative and in the early stages of idea development or is an untested theory that addresses an important problem associated with trauma. Preliminary data are not required.
Mechanism 2: Proof of Concept Research Awards: Awards up to $100,000 total costs for research that is innovative, high-risk/high-reward and in the early stages of idea development or is an untested theory that addresses an important problem associated with trauma. Preliminary data are not required.
Mechanism 3: Preclinical and Translational Research Awards: Awards up to $500,000 total costs for research that is supported by substantial preliminary or published data. Clinical trials are not allowed under this funding opportunity.
Mechanism 4: Clinical Research Awards: Awards up to $500,000 total costs for research supported by substantial preliminary or published data. Clinical trials are allowed under this funding opportunity.)

2025 Total Award: TBA

2025 Direct Awards

Direct Award Total: $3M

TRC4 Pre/Post-doctoral Fellowship Program
* PI: Celeste Finnerty, PhD (UTMB), Charles Cox, MD (UTHealth Houston), and Steven Wolf, MD (UTMB)
* Award $1,080,000
UT System Pivotal Trial for Upper Limb Functional Recovery in Chronic Spinal Cord Injuries
*. PI: Jane Wigginton, MD (UT Dallas)
* Award $500,000
SWATT the FLAME (Fueling Lifesaving Advances in Metabolic Efficiency): A UT Burn Initiative
* PI: Benjamin Levi, MD (UTSW)
* Award $420,000
Identification and Remediation of Delays to Definitive Care of Critically Injured Patients in the Texas Trauma System (Remedy) with Advances in AI to Improve Care for Trauma
* PI: Brian Eastridge, MD (UTHSCSA), Amina Qutub, PhD (UTSA), and Alan Cook, MD (UT Tyler)
* Award $1,000,000

TRC4 Pre/Post-doctoral Fellowship Program

PI: Celeste Finnerty, PhD (UTMB), Charles Cox, MD (UTHealth Houston), and Steven Wolf, MD (UTMB)
Award $1,080,000

UT System Pivotal Trial for Upper Limb Functional Recovery in Chronic Spinal Cord Injuries

PI: Jane Wigginton, MD (UT Dallas)
Award $500,000

SWATT the FLAME (Fueling Lifesaving Advances in Metabolic Efficiency): A UT Burn Initiative

PI: Benjamin Levi, MD (UTSW)
Award $420,000

Identification and Remediation of Delays to Definitive Care of Critically Injured Patients in the Texas Trauma System (Remedy) with Advances in AI to Improve Care for Trauma

PI: Brian Eastridge, MD (UTHSCSA), Amina Qutub, PhD (UTSA), and Alan Cook, MD (UT Tyler)
Award $1,000,000

The 2025 awarding period is still ongoing, so be on the lookout for further news on grant awardees from TRC4.

2025 Competitive Awards: TBA

UT Arlington – $781,064

A Pre-hospital Hyperbaric Oxygen Regimen to Stimulate Skeletal Muscle Regeneration after Blunt Trauma
- PI: Barbara Schneider, PhD
Adaptive Spine Board Overlay for Pressure Injury Prevention and Vibration Reduction during Long-range Aeromedical Evacuations
- PI: Muthu Wijesundara, PhD
Engineered 3D Bioprinted Muscle Grafts Loaded with Prostaglandin E2 for Volumetric Muscle Loss
- PI: Kamal Awad, PhD

UT Dallas – $1,099,560

A Polyrotaxane-based Systemic Hemostatic Agent
- PI: Yongsheng Gao, PhD
Targeting Nerve Growth Factor-driven MNK Signaling to Prevent Pain and Promote Tissue Recovery in Complex Trauma
- PI: Theodore Price, PhD
Targeted Plasticity Therapy for the Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- PI: Seth Hays, PhD

UT Tyler – $199,999

Investigating Trends and Risk Factors Associated with Traumatic and Chemical Injuries Among U.S. Service Members, 2001-2023
- PI: Tuan Le, MD
Wearable Sweat Monitoring Device for Real-time Analysis of Traumatic Brain Injury Biomarkers
- PI: Shawana Tabassum, PhD

UT San Antonio – $799,974

Nanoparticle-mediated Modulation of Adipocyte Thermogenic Activity for Cold-Induced Injury Management
- PI: Maria Gonzalez-Porras, PhD
Accelerated Performance and Health Recovery of Skeletal Muscle Using Autophagy Modulators After Ischemia Reperfusion Injury
- PI: Hugo Giambini, Phd
Enhancing Neuromuscular Recovery Following Peripheral Nerve Injury by Inhibiting NLRP3 Inflammasome
- PI: Chia Hsu, PhD

Human Brain Organoid Transplants into the Mouse Motor Cortex as a Neural Repair Model and Therapeutic
- PI: Jenny Hsieh, PhD

Tissue Damage Mimetic Biomaterials for Regeneration of Critical Sized Bone Defects
- PI: Alisa Isaac, PhD
Evaluation of In Situ Forming Gels in Retinal Cellular Models of Traumatic Optic Neuropathy
- PI: Marissa Wechsler, PhD

UT Rio Grande Valley – $500,000

Chronic Pain and Depression: Towards Effective Management of Both Comorbidities
- PI: Khalid Benamar, PhD

UT El Paso – $200,000

Nanoparticle-enabled Immunomodulation for Sepsis Prevention in Trauma and Combat Casualty
- PI: Wilson Poon, Ph

UT Medical Branch at Galveston – $1,722,433

Identification of Subtypes in Texas Burn Injuries: From Registries to Targeted Patient Care
- PI: Celeste Finnerty, PhD
Novel Strategies for Reducing Burn Scar Itch
- PI: Celeste Finnerty, PhD
Molecular Iodine for Advanced Complex Wound Management
- PI: Joseph Wenke, PhD
Targeting Polytrauma-induced Immunosuppression in a Novel Model of Invasive Fungal Disease
- PI: Alison Coady, PhD
Target Treatment of High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) Alleviates Skeletal Muscle Impairment in Burn and Hindlimb Unloaded Rats
- PI: Juquan Song, MD
Biorepository for Chronic Subdural Hematoma Treatment with Embolization Versus Surgery Study
- PI: Peter Kan, MD

UT Health San Antonio – $3,195,899

Targeting Lactate Dehydrogenase to Prevent Trauma-related Organ Injury
- PI: William Reeves, MD
Assessing Potential Adjunct Medications such as
Hydroxocobalamin and Methylene Blue, with REBOA, in the Management of Hemorrhage in a large animal (Sus scrofa) model of polytrauma
- PI: Patrick Ng, MD
Regeneration of Muscle Tissue Using Biomimetic Hematoma and RSPO-2 mRNA
- PI: Vaida Glatt, PhD
Novel Therapy for Multi-Organ Failure
- PI: Kumar Sharma, MD
Improving Procurement-to-Transplantation Timeline via Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carriers (HBOC)-Enhanced Machine Perfusion for Optimal Trauma Care
- PI: Charles Fries, MD
Echocardiography and Lung Evaluation while Visiting Altitude Transient Extremes (ELEVATE)
- PI: Savannah Chavez, MD
Accelerated Image-guided Robotically Delivered Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Combat PTSD
- PI: Felipe Salinas, PhD

UT Health Houston – $3,413,377

Role of Neutrophil-derived Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 Alpha in Liver Injury
- PI: Yankai Wen, PhD
Consequences of TBI in aged animals with Abeta pathology
- PI: Pramod Dash, PhD
An Assessment of Green Plasma: The Potential Hemostatic Superiority of a Currently Discarded Blood Product
- PI: Bryan Cotton, MD
Freeze Dried Mechotransduced MSC Derived Exosomes for Neurological Injury
- PI: Charles Cox, MD
Investigation of the Therapeutic Potential of Eosinophils to Attenuate Trauma and Combat Casualty-related Liver Injury
- PI: Cynthia Ju, PhD
Pediatric Prospective Observational Vascular Injury Trial (Pedi PROOVIT)
- PI: Natalie Drucker, MD
A Novel Role of Eosinophil-specific Cyclooxygenase-2 in Trauma-related Liver Injury
- PI: Yang Yang, PhD
Assessment of the Relationship between Statins, Microvascular Dysregulation, and Venous Thromboembolism in Severely Injured Trauma Patients
- PI: Gabrielle Hatton, MD
Prevention of Hemorrhagic Shock-induced Acute Kidney Injury by Targeting Hypoxia-sensitive ATP4A with Pantoprazole: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial
- PI: Yafen Liang, MD
Hemodynamic Management following Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Pilot Randomized, Controlled Trial
- PI: David Meyer, MD

UT Southwestern – $2,875,557

Transcutaneous Auricular Neurostimulation in TBI (tAN-TBI)
- PI: Alex Valadka, MD
Financial Toxicity Associated with Upper Extremity Trauma
- PI: Jessica Billing, MD
Neurovascular Coupling and Disorders of Consciousness in
Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
- PI: Kartavya Sharma, MD
Targeting JMJD3 to Enhance Recovery from Muscle Trauma
- PI: Prashant Mishra, MD
Physiological and Molecular Determinants of Shock-induced Torpor in the Mouse
- PI: Laurent Gautron, PhD
Mechanisms of Poloxamer 188 in Burn Injury
- PI: Vanessa Nomellini, MD
Novel Pharmacologic Strategies to Mitigate Post-traumatic Extremity Complications
- PI: Benajmin Levi, MD
Identifying the Role of Lymphatic Vessels in Tendon Healing
- PI: Neda Vishlaghi, PhD
Dissecting the Function of ER Stress during Skin Wound Repair
- PI: Zaili Yang, PhD
Development of Ultra-fast Cardiac MR Protocol for Cardiac Trauma Evaluation and Diagnosis
- PI: Qing Zou, PhD

Competitive Total Award: $14,787,863

2024 Total Award: $18,037,863

2024 Direct Awards

Novel Short Wave Assessment Tool in Texas (SWATT) to Enhance Burn Tissue Viability Assessment
* PI: Benjamin Levi, MD (UT Southwestern)
* Award $1.5M
Project TRUST – Trauma Recovery Using Support from Trauma-Informed-Care-Approach
* PI: Erika Brigmon, MD and Lillian Liao, MD (UT Health Science Center San Antonio)
* Award $250K
Identifying SUR1/TRPM4 Polymorphisms to Reduce Contusion Expansion After Traumatic Brain Injury: Clinical Trial Planning Grant
* PI: Charles Cox, MD (UTHealth Houston) and Susannah Nicholson, MD (UT Health Science Center San Antonio)
* Award $500K
iRemedyACT: Identification and Remediation of Delays to Definitive Care of Critically Injured Patients in the Texas Trauma System (Remedy) with Advances in AI to Improve Care for Trauma (ACT)
* PI: Brian Eastridge, MD (UT Health Science Center San Antonio), Alan Cook, MD (UT Tyler), and Amina Qutub, PhD (UT San Antonio)
* Award $1M

Novel Short Wave Assessment Tool in Texas (SWATT) to Enhance Burn Tissue Viability Assessment

PI: Benjamin Levi, MD (UT Southwestern)
Award $1.5M

Project TRUST – Trauma Recovery Using Support from Trauma-Informed-Care-Approach

PI: Erika Brigmon, MD and Lillian Liao, MD (UT Health Science Center San Antonio)
Award $250K

Identifying SUR1/TRPM4 Polymorphisms to Reduce Contusion Expansion After Traumatic Brain Injury: Clinical Trial Planning Grant

PI: Charles Cox, MD (UTHealth Houston) and Susannah Nicholson, MD (UT Health Science Center San Antonio)
Award $500K

iRemedyACT: Identification and Remediation of Delays to Definitive Care of Critically Injured Patients in the Texas Trauma System (Remedy) with Advances in AI to Improve Care for Trauma (ACT)

PI: Brian Eastridge, MD (UT Health Science Center San Antonio), Alan Cook, MD (UT Tyler), and Amina Qutub, PhD (UT San Antonio)
Award $1M

Direct Award Total: $3.25M

2024 Competitive Awards

UT Arlington – $781,064

A Pre-hospital Hyperbaric Oxygen Regimen to Stimulate Skeletal Muscle Regeneration after Blunt Trauma
- PI: Barbara Schneider, PhD
Adaptive Spine Board Overlay for Pressure Injury Prevention and Vibration Reduction during Long-range Aeromedical Evacuations
- PI: Muthu Wijesundara, PhD
Engineered 3D Bioprinted Muscle Grafts Loaded with Prostaglandin E2 for Volumetric Muscle Loss
- PI: Kamal Awad, PhD

UT Dallas – $1,099,560

A Polyrotaxane-based Systemic Hemostatic Agent
- PI: Yongsheng Gao, PhD
Targeting Nerve Growth Factor-driven MNK Signaling to Prevent Pain and Promote Tissue Recovery in Complex Trauma
- PI: Theodore Price, PhD
Targeted Plasticity Therapy for the Treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder
- PI: Seth Hays, PhD

UT Tyler – $199,999

Investigating Trends and Risk Factors Associated with Traumatic and Chemical Injuries Among U.S. Service Members, 2001-2023
- PI: Tuan Le, MD
Wearable Sweat Monitoring Device for Real-time Analysis of Traumatic Brain Injury Biomarkers
- PI: Shawana Tabassum, PhD

UT San Antonio – $799,974

Nanoparticle-mediated Modulation of Adipocyte Thermogenic Activity for Cold-Induced Injury Management
- PI: Maria Gonzalez-Porras, PhD
Accelerated Performance and Health Recovery of Skeletal Muscle Using Autophagy Modulators After Ischemia Reperfusion Injury
- PI: Hugo Giambini, Phd
Enhancing Neuromuscular Recovery Following Peripheral Nerve Injury by Inhibiting NLRP3 Inflammasome
- PI: Chia Hsu, PhD

Human Brain Organoid Transplants into the Mouse Motor Cortex as a Neural Repair Model and Therapeutic
- PI: Jenny Hsieh, PhD

Tissue Damage Mimetic Biomaterials for Regeneration of Critical Sized Bone Defects
- PI: Alisa Isaac, PhD
Evaluation of In Situ Forming Gels in Retinal Cellular Models of Traumatic Optic Neuropathy
- PI: Marissa Wechsler, PhD

UT Rio Grande Valley – $500,000

Chronic Pain and Depression: Towards Effective Management of Both Comorbidities
- PI: Khalid Benamar, PhD

UT El Paso – $200,000

Nanoparticle-enabled Immunomodulation for Sepsis Prevention in Trauma and Combat Casualty
- PI: Wilson Poon, Ph

UT Medical Branch at Galveston – $1,722,433

Identification of Subtypes in Texas Burn Injuries: From Registries to Targeted Patient Care
- PI: Celeste Finnerty, PhD
Novel Strategies for Reducing Burn Scar Itch
- PI: Celeste Finnerty, PhD
Molecular Iodine for Advanced Complex Wound Management
- PI: Joseph Wenke, PhD
Targeting Polytrauma-induced Immunosuppression in a Novel Model of Invasive Fungal Disease
- PI: Alison Coady, PhD
Target Treatment of High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) Alleviates Skeletal Muscle Impairment in Burn and Hindlimb Unloaded Rats
- PI: Juquan Song, MD
Biorepository for Chronic Subdural Hematoma Treatment with Embolization Versus Surgery Study
- PI: Peter Kan, MD

UT Health San Antonio – $3,195,899

Targeting Lactate Dehydrogenase to Prevent Trauma-related Organ Injury
- PI: William Reeves, MD
Assessing Potential Adjunct Medications such as
Hydroxocobalamin and Methylene Blue, with REBOA, in the Management of Hemorrhage in a large animal (Sus scrofa) model of polytrauma
- PI: Patrick Ng, MD
Regeneration of Muscle Tissue Using Biomimetic Hematoma and RSPO-2 mRNA
- PI: Vaida Glatt, PhD
Novel Therapy for Multi-Organ Failure
- PI: Kumar Sharma, MD
Improving Procurement-to-Transplantation Timeline via Hemoglobin Based Oxygen Carriers (HBOC)-Enhanced Machine Perfusion for Optimal Trauma Care
- PI: Charles Fries, MD
Echocardiography and Lung Evaluation while Visiting Altitude Transient Extremes (ELEVATE)
- PI: Savannah Chavez, MD
Accelerated Image-guided Robotically Delivered Transcranial Magnetic Stimulation for Combat PTSD
- PI: Felipe Salinas, PhD

UT Health Houston – $3,413,377

Role of Neutrophil-derived Hypoxia-Inducible Factor 1 Alpha in Liver Injury
- PI: Yankai Wen, PhD
Consequences of TBI in aged animals with Abeta pathology
- PI: Pramod Dash, PhD
An Assessment of Green Plasma: The Potential Hemostatic Superiority of a Currently Discarded Blood Product
- PI: Bryan Cotton, MD
Freeze Dried Mechotransduced MSC Derived Exosomes for Neurological Injury
- PI: Charles Cox, MD
Investigation of the Therapeutic Potential of Eosinophils to Attenuate Trauma and Combat Casualty-related Liver Injury
- PI: Cynthia Ju, PhD
Pediatric Prospective Observational Vascular Injury Trial (Pedi PROOVIT)
- PI: Natalie Drucker, MD
A Novel Role of Eosinophil-specific Cyclooxygenase-2 in Trauma-related Liver Injury
- PI: Yang Yang, PhD
Assessment of the Relationship between Statins, Microvascular Dysregulation, and Venous Thromboembolism in Severely Injured Trauma Patients
- PI: Gabrielle Hatton, MD
Prevention of Hemorrhagic Shock-induced Acute Kidney Injury by Targeting Hypoxia-sensitive ATP4A with Pantoprazole: A Prospective Randomized Controlled Trial
- PI: Yafen Liang, MD
Hemodynamic Management following Acute Traumatic Spinal Cord Injury: A Pilot Randomized, Controlled Trial
- PI: David Meyer, MD

UT Southwestern – $2,875,557

Transcutaneous Auricular Neurostimulation in TBI (tAN-TBI)
- PI: Alex Valadka, MD
Financial Toxicity Associated with Upper Extremity Trauma
- PI: Jessica Billing, MD
Neurovascular Coupling and Disorders of Consciousness in
Severe Traumatic Brain Injury
- PI: Kartavya Sharma, MD
Targeting JMJD3 to Enhance Recovery from Muscle Trauma
- PI: Prashant Mishra, MD
Physiological and Molecular Determinants of Shock-induced Torpor in the Mouse
- PI: Laurent Gautron, PhD
Mechanisms of Poloxamer 188 in Burn Injury
- PI: Vanessa Nomellini, MD
Novel Pharmacologic Strategies to Mitigate Post-traumatic Extremity Complications
- PI: Benajmin Levi, MD
Identifying the Role of Lymphatic Vessels in Tendon Healing
- PI: Neda Vishlaghi, PhD
Dissecting the Function of ER Stress during Skin Wound Repair
- PI: Zaili Yang, PhD
Development of Ultra-fast Cardiac MR Protocol for Cardiac Trauma Evaluation and Diagnosis
- PI: Qing Zou, PhD