Dr. Hebda's fundamental purpose is to develop new, biologically driven therapeutic modalities to promote and optimize wound healing of the upperaerodigestive system. In order to achieve this goal, we have projects based on:

The applicaton of molecular biology to analyze fetal vs adult wound healing, tissue engineering of soft and hard connective tissues of the upperaerodigestve tract, and development of animal and tissue culture models to undertand the mechanisms of ideal tissue repair.

Although wound healing research has been extensively explored in the skin, very little work has been done to investigate mucosal wound healing. The field of otolaryngology presents numerous clinical scenarios of problematic wound healing including subglottic stenosis, chronic suppurative otitis media, and sinusitis. With the exploration of the fetal wound environment, which heals without scarring, and using the powerful tools of molecular biology, there is the potential for new far-reaching insight into biological therapies for optimizing the course of wound healing of the mucosa, the skin and other organs and tissues.

We have a number of ongoing clinical and basic science projects in which a hightly motivated student can become involved. The environment and resources in Pediatric Otolaryngology are extremely supportive of research endeavors.