Bioengineering Journal Names TTW-supported Therapeutic Peptide Study "Editor’s Choice" for Wound Healing Advances

Uniformed Services University (USU) and the U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research (USAISR) have collaborated with a team of Tufts University wound healing experts who have invented a novel peptide that significantly improves healing in severe wounds, earning top honors from a leading bioengineering journal.

Named an "Editor’s Choice" by the journal Bioengineering, this groundbreaking study utilizes novel TSN6

therapeutic peptides suspended in hydrogel to accelerate full-thickness wound healing. This advancement

in regenerative medicine addresses critical shortages in donor skin to improve recovery outcomes for combat

burn victims and trauma patients. (USU photo)

November 25, 2025 by Zachary Willis

A groundbreaking study including researchers at the Uniformed Services University (USU), U.S. Army Institute for Surgical Research (USAISR) and Tufts University School of Medicine has been named an "Editor’s Choice" by the scientific journal Bioengineering. The research, titled “The Use of Therapeutic Peptides in Combination with Full-Thickness Skin Columns to Improve Healing of Excisional Wounds,” introduces a novel approach to treating full-thickness skin wounds, a frequent and debilitating injury in combat, by combining a regenerative peptide with a specialized hydrogel.

This recognition highlights a significant leap forward in military medicine, utilizing funding from USU’s
Transforming Technology for the Warfighter (TTW) program to address the critical shortage of donor skin for burn victims and trauma patients.

(Left to right) Dr. Ira M. Herman of Tufts

University and Dr. Thomas Darling of

USU. (Photo credit: Tom Balfour, USU)

Current standards of care often fall short when addressing these severe injuries. For military medical providers, treating full-thickness wounds that destroy both the epidermis and dermis is a race against infection and permanent disability. The traditional method, split-thickness skin grafting, involves shaving a layer of healthy skin from the patient to cover the wound. While effective, this approach creates painful donor sites prone to scarring and infection, a significant liability in austere combat environments where resources are limited.

Seeking to eliminate these complications and preserve healthy skin, a research team including Dr. Thomas Darling, professor of Dermatology at USU's School of Medicine, Dr. Kristo Nuutila at USAISR, Drs. Rodney Chan and Anders Carlsson from the Metis Foundation, and Dr. Ira M Herman, Tufts University School of Medicine and inventor of the innovative peptides, investigated the roles and relationships the peptides could play when used alone or in combination with Full-Thickness Skin Column based approach (FTSCs), where small columns or ‘plugs of skin’ can be delivered to a wound site offering healing opportunities. However, while FTSCs have been shown to have a positive impact on healing dynamics, there have been issues or gaps in FTSC regenerative capacity. With the peptides invented at Tufts University, the USU-USAISR and Tufts team have now demonstrated that tissue repair and regeneration can be accelerated when FTSCs are deployed together with the TSN peptides.

To solve this engineering challenge, the researchers turned to TSN6, a bioactive peptide derived from the protein multimerin-1, as identified in this study from 2016. According to Dr. Kristo Nuutila, the study’s senior corresponding author and an associate professor of Surgery at USU, TSN6 is unique among bioactive peptides due to its "multifunctional activity." Nuutila notes that Herman previously demonstrated that the peptide promotes tissue repair and hair follicle neogenesis in a study previously reported by him and the USU team led by Darling.

The team incorporated TSN6 into a carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) hydrogel and applied it to wounds treated with the skin columns. Nuutila explains that the hydrogel is important for wound repair to be facilitating a moist wound environment. He adds that CMC was chosen because it is compatible with the body, breaks down naturally, and can carry healing peptides without changing its gel form.

The results demonstrated that the TSN6 peptide mixed in a hydrogel could significantly improve the quality of wound healing compared to standard methods. According to the study, the peptide accelerated the migration of keratinocytes and fibroblasts, the key cells responsible for rebuilding skin. The data showed that this combination promoted better collagen deposition, providing the necessary structural scaffolding for new tissue to grow rapidly and robustly.

This research was made possible by the Transforming Technology for the Warfighter (TTW) program, which cultivates partnerships between USU faculty, industry, academia, and civilian medical centers to create and advance medical technologies.

"It was through the TTW program that I first heard about therapeutic peptides invented by Dr. Herman," says Darling. "Following our initial success demonstrating regenerative properties of peptides in skin substitutes, we broadened our research to encompass various wound types. A significant development was the collaboration with Dr. Nuutila and the San Antonio team, who are demonstrating the potential of these small molecules in tissue repair."

(Left to right) Dr. Anders Carlsson, Dr. Kristo Nuutila, and Dr. Ira M. Herman present their findings, which

demonstrated that mixing TSN6 peptides in a hydrogel significantly improved wound healing compared to

standard methods. The study, recently named an "Editor’s Choice" by the journal Bioengineering, highlights

a significant leap forward in military medicine and wound care. (Courtesy photo)

Nuutila echoes the importance of the TTW funding, noting that it was instrumental in bringing together a multidisciplinary team of scientists from USU, USAISR, Metis, and Tufts to promote close collaboration.

Beyond the laboratory success, this advancement aligns directly with the Department of War’s priority to rapidly field emerging technologies that enhance warfighter readiness. By improving the speed and quality of wound healing, this technology could reduce recovery times for injured service members.

"The use of bioactive peptides such as TSN6 can promote tissue regeneration, leading to a faster return to duty," Nuutila says. "Importantly, our results show that these peptides can also improve long-term healing outcomes that ultimately lead to a better quality of life.”

While currently tested in models which closely mimic human skin, the success of the TSN6 hydrogel paves the way for future clinical trials. “Without question and because of the remarkable utility of this innovative class of peptides we’ve created,” says Herman, “our work has now demonstrated efficacy and safety in several pre-clinical models, including our work cited, here, in response to thermal injury, as countermeasures for radiation dermatitis prevention, the promotion of new hair follicles, and the promotion of wound repair and tissue (re)generation, regardless of injury type.” Herman continues, “we are both devoted as we are fully committed to seeing these transformative technologies delivered for all those in need of healing, whether injuries are sustained on the battlefield or civilian settings.”

The team is actively continuing this line of research, recently completing a study using microneedles to deliver TSN peptides to burn wounds with promising results. According to Nuutila, the researchers are currently identifying potential pathways for FDA approval to translate this discovery into a practical battlefield solution.