Faculty Start-ups
Biomatrix Photonics LLC
Steven Goldstein, Ph.D.
Michael Morris, Ph.D.
Blake Roessler, M.D.
UM Professors Goldstein, Morris and Roesslet have established Biomatrix Photonics LLC. It is a business entity that will lead the commercialization of Raman Spectroscopy based technology for the assessment of connective tissue disorders or monitor therapeutic interventions. Based on substantial intellectual property developed in the use of this technology, the company has begun to develop its lead products in the area of diagnostics of bone fragility in osteoporosis. Related technologies are also being developed associated with evaluation of degenerative conditions in other connective tissues and monitoring of regenerative therapies. The Company spun out of the University of Michigan as a result of collaborative research programs in the founders' laboratories.
Incept BioSystems
Shuichi Takayama, Ph.D.
Incept BioSystems develops innovative microscale technologies that provide fertility specialists breakthrough capabilities to treat infertility. Our technologies were developed to improve the in vitro manipulation, performance, and viability of high-value cells, and our mission is to set the standard for next-generation clinical devices for the Assisted Reproduction Technology (ART) laboratory.
NeuroNexus Technologies
Daryl Kipke, Ph.D.
N2T is a University of Michigan spinout company that was formed in 2004 to commercialize neural probe technologies that were developed over nearly two decades of research in the College of Engineering at Michigan. Over the past 15 years at Michigan with funding from the National Institutes of Health ( P41 EB002030), many types of microscale neural probes were developed and distributed to hundreds of neuroscience researchers around the world for use in their experiments. This extensive research and development effort has resulted in a remarkably robust and well-validated platform technology for interfacing with the brain. N2T has licensed this platform technology from the University and is developing it into a focused franchise of neural probe systems for medical and scientific applications. N2T's products are designed to provide microscale electrical and chemical interfaces with the brain that meet demanding application requirements in cost-effective configurations.
Neural Intervention Technologies, Inc. (NIT)
Daryl Kipke, Ph.D.
NIT was founded in 2003 based on the ALGELŠ technology developed by Drs. Timothy Becker and Daryl Kipke and licensed from the University of Michigan and AzTE, a technology transfer company for Arizona State University. The ALGEL product is an alginate based embolic material designed to fill blood vessel defects thereby displacing blood pressure effects and preventing vessel rupture. The material is delivered by microcatheters using a controlled delivery system for the treatment of vascular diseases such as cerebral Arteriovenous Malformations (AVMs) and aneurysms. NIT was acquired by W. L. Gore and Associates in July 2006.NeuroNexus received a 'Best Technology' award from a regional business association.
Biotectix LLC
David Martin, Ph.D., Professor, Materials Science and Engineering, Macromolecular Science and Engineering, and Biomedical Engineering
Sarah Richardson-Burns, Ph.D., Senior Research Fellow, Materials Science and Engineering
Jeffrey Hendricks, MS, Graduate Student Research Assistant, Biomedical Engineering
Formed in 2007, Biotectix LLC grew out of research in Prof. Martin's laboratory on the use of conducting polymers for biocompatible neural electrodes. By applying a thin coating of conducting polymer and biomolecules to the surface of biomedical electrodes, it is possible to direct the tissue reaction around the electrode while improving the electrical transfer across the interface. The technology optioned by Biotectix has broad utility for many applications. A number of implanted devices including pacemakers, cochlear implants, deep brain stimulators, spinal cord stimulation and neural recording electrodes experience detrimental tissue reactions which limit the performance of the device and in the worst case necessitate surgical intervention. Recently the researchers were awarded a grant from the Michigan Universities Commercialization Initiative challenge fund to study the effects of such coatings on cardiac devices in conjunction with doctors at the Henry Ford Hospital.
3D-Biomatrix
Nicholas Kotov Ph.D., Associate Professor of Chemical Engineering, Associate Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Associate Professor of Materials Science and Engineering, College of Engineering
One of the very significant problems of pharmaceutical companies is that drugs often fail in the clinical stages and often after clinical approval when toxic side-effects are discovered. In part this is because the human and animal trials are very expensive and have many regulatory restrictions. The company 3D-Biomatrix works on implementation of a new paradigm of drug discovery: "Human in a test-tube". The drug discovery platform based of three-dimensional 3D biological growth matrix, Perfecta3D™, allows for ex-vivo replication of human organs. Unlike the two-dimensional bottoms of conventional well-plates, Perfecta 3D™ is an organized 3D environment for culturing and testing cells in a reproducible manner, specifically designed for drug testing, with applications in cell expansion, tissue engineering, and cell imaging. By providing an organized substrate on which to grow cells and tissues, it allows for the testing of drugs in a format closer to the environment of the body. The high degree of order eliminates scaffold-to-scaffold variation, improving experimental controllability. Due to high optical transparency Perfecta3D™ can be used with the current standard formats for high throughput assays used in the pharmaceutical and biotechnology fields.
Tissue Regeneration Systems, Inc. (TRS)
Scott Hollister, UM BME, ME, Surgery
Steve Feinberg, UM Oral/Maxillofacial Surgery, BME
Frank LaMarca, UM Neurosurgery, BME
Bill Murphy, Wisconsin BME (UM BME PhD)
Jim Adox, Venture Investors, Inc.
TRS was founded in 2006 based on technology developed at the University of Michigan and later in conjunction with the University of Wisconsin. TRS focus is on developing integrated structural and surface modified materials that can serve as load bearing biologic delivery platforms for skeletal reconstruction, with applications in spine, craniofacial and orthopaedic markets.