I³R, UAMS and Health Tech Industry Collaborate to Deliver Innovation for Impact

The Institute for Integrative and Innovative Research (I³R) at the U of A is collaborating with the University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences (UAMS) and health technology companies and providers on a groundbreaking neural-enhanced prosthesis study, one that has the potential to deliver meaningful sensations of touch, grip force and hand opening to users. 

James Abbas, Ph.D., who is co-directing the study, led discussions that have brought a team of UAMS surgeons, Snell Prosthetics and Orthotics and health technology companies together with I³R’s Adaptive Neural Systems Group (ANS). 

From left: UAMS surgeons Mark Tait, John Bracey and Erika Petersen, and ANS Group members James Abbas, Ranu Jung, Sathyakumar Kuntaegowdanahalli and Anil Thota (photo by Evan Lewis, UAMS).

“Innovation in health care requires coordination and integration across disciplines and sectors. We are thrilled to have established partnerships with UAMS and Snell to innovate here in Arkansas,” said Abbas, professor of biomedical engineering and member of the ANS Group. “The world-class surgeons at UAMS will help I³R extend the reach of integrative health throughout the state and beyond, and will enhance our ability to develop and deploy breakthrough neural technology to the benefit of many people.” 

UAMS surgeons working with the ANS Group to support the study, “Neural Enabled Prosthesis for Upper Limb Amputees,” are: 

• Erika Petersen, M.D., a professor and director of the Section of Functional and Restorative Neurosurgery in the College of Medicine Department of Neurosurgery
• John Bracey, M.D., assistant professor and hand and nerve specialist in the College of Medicine Department of Orthopaedic Surgery
• Mark Tait, M.D., associate professor and hand and nerve specialist in the Department of Orthopaedic Surgery 

Abbas also holds a joint appointment with UAMS in the Department of Neurosurgery. 

“UAMS’ partnership with I³R is a major opportunity to take a whole new direction in innovation and significantly advance how we help people regain their physical capabilities,” Petersen said. “It’s my honor to be working with Dr. Jung and Dr. Abbas, and I am very grateful that they were able to identify a partnership and to trust me to lead the surgical team.”

“This is UAMS’ first surgical collaboration with the University of Arkansas, and we are very excited to be part of it,” Tait said. “We do a lot of prosthetic work with amputees, and the idea of being part of something that could give amputees sensation is incredibly meaningful.”

Bracey added: “In the prosthetic world, the concept of creating sensation with a neural-enabled prosthesis is something we talk about with our colleagues, so it’s really exciting and a privilege to be involved in actually doing that now.” 

Professor James Abbas with Jeremy Crowell, vice president of clinical operations at Snell Prosthetics and Orthotics (courtesy of ANS Group)

The collaboration is being facilitated by the Translational Research Institute at UAMS, which is supported by a Clinical and Translational Science Award (CTSA) from the National Institutes of Health’s National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences to accelerate the pace of health innovations (grant UL1 TR003107).

“The collaboration with I³R’s groundbreaking ANS Group, Snell Prosthetics and the brilliant surgeons at UAMS will advance this cutting-edge research and life-improving technology,” said Terry Martin, U of A provost and executive vice chancellor for academic affairs. “Working together, we will serve the people of Arkansas and advance healthcare.”

The team at Snell in Fayetteville is providing clinical support to fit the prosthetic socket and hand for each participant. Snell’s network of clinics across the state are working with team members at I³R and UAMS to inform people with amputation about the study and identify eligible candidates.

“We are very excited in this collaboration with I³R and UAMS,” said Jeremy Crowell, vice president of clinical operations at Snell Prosthetics and Orthotics. “Snell has always been an early adopter of new technology and this is one of the most innovative research opportunities we have come across in a long time to help improve lives.” 

“This collaboration lays the foundation for I³R to serve as a driver of integrated health throughout Arkansas and the region,” said Ranu Jung, Ph.D., who co-directs the study with Abbas and is executive director and endowed chair of I³R, associate vice chancellor and Distinguished Professor of biomedical engineering. “Our approach recognizes the multiple physiological, social and environmental factors at play in addressing whole health — one that utilizes a holistic and integrative strategy to produce impactful solutions that are deployable at scale.”

Grants to the U of A from the National Institute of Biomedical Imaging and Bioengineering of the National Institutes of Health (grant R01 EB023261) and the U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity of the Department of Defense (grant W81XWH1910839) are supporting the clinical trial (NCT03432325) and the team at I³R, which includes research faculty, scientists, postdoctoral scholars and biomedical engineering doctoral students, and the collaboration with UAMS, Snell and partnering companies.

The clinical trial is open and recruiting participants with amputations below the elbow. Learn more. Contact: anslab@uark.edu or 479-718-2390.