Ashland Business Recognized at Annual Manufacturing Award Ceremony
Boston, MA – The Massachusetts Legislature’s Manufacturing Caucus hosted its 8th Annual Manufacturing Award Ceremony today. The ceremony honored manufacturers from across the Commonwealth, showcasing their innovative and revolutionary manufacturing capabilities and products.
Ashland-based BioSurfaces, LLC (BioSurfaces) was nominated by Representative Jack Patrick Lewis (Framingham) this year. Founded in 2003, BioSurfaces employs 12 people. The company also serves to train the future life science and medical device workforce through the Internship Challenge Program offered by the Massachusetts Life Science Center.
“It was an honor to nominate BioSurfaces as a Manufacturer of the Year,” Representative Lewis noted. “BioSurfaces is a beacon in the Ashland community, applying an innovative approach to life science that pushes the boundaries of what is possible.”
“Small businesses are the heartbeat of our state’s economy,” said Senate President Karen E. Spilka (D-Ashland). “Representative Lewis made a great selection in his nominee, and I look forward to seeing BioSurfaces, along with the other nominees, get the recognition they deserve for being an important part of our community.” BioSurfaces is a life science company with deep leadership and a diverse team of specialists. The company’s proprietary electrospinning technology creates product solutions by engineering biology with synthetic cellular matrices for applications ranging from In Vitro Research Tools (IVRT) and delivery of bioactive therapeutics to medical devices and consumer health products. BioSurfaces’s manufacturing process also allows the incorporation of drugs or other bioactive agents directly into the company’s nanofibers for localized release if that is required. BioSurfaces’s technology has been validated by leading organizations in pharmaceuticals, medical devices, life science research tools, and consumer products.
“It’s an honor for BioSurfaces to be nominated for the Manufacturer of the Year Award,” said Matthew Phaneuf, Co-Founder, President and CTO of BioSurfaces. “Over 20 years ago, my wife Tina and I started BioSurfaces focusing primarily on developing an artificial artery for patients with arterial disease. Over this time period, the company’s platform technology has added applications in a variety of areas such as IVRT, cell delivery and medical devices. We have grown from the company doing solely research and development into a company that continues to perform cutting edge research and development plus pilot manufacturing for several of our products. We look forward to working with Representative Lewis and the various state programs to see what programs can assist us in bringing full scale manufacturing of our products to Massachusetts.”
Bio-Spun™ materials have substantial benefits over current commercially available technologies, with their flexibility, drug and bioactive loading capabilities, and greatly improved healing. The improved healing occurs as a result of the nanofibrous structure of the Bio-Spun™ materials as compared to other highly porous biomaterials. Bio-Spun™ materials can be made to form a variety of unusual and difficult-to-manufacture shapes while also demonstrating improved biocompatibility over other textile-based materials. For example, they can be stretched and twisted to make sutures, their tubes can be crimped to make kink-resistant artificial blood vessels, or multiple layers can be fused to encapsulate internal structures. BioSurfaces’s various medical device products made from Bio-Spun™ materials can be used to treat diseases of the artery, kidney, and heart. Bio-Spun™ materials have also been used to deliver cells, act as a wound dressing component, or serve as a delivery vehicle for cosmetic active agents.
Most recently, Bio-Spun™ scaffolds have been used to grow various tissues at the benchtop, part of the company’s rapidly growing IVRT product line. This 3D scaffold provides a superior alternative to outdated animal-based products. In June 2023, BioSurfaces was the recipient of a $1.72 million Small Business Innovation Research Direct Phase II grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS), one of the 27 institutes and centers comprising the National Institutes of Health. This grant’s funds are for the development and commercialization of the company’s Bio-Spun™ scaffold for tissue culture inserts for organotypic culture models that have improved physiological relevance and functionality compared to currently available models. The models developed by BioSurfaces under the grant will be independently validated by our collaborator, the Institute for In Vitro Services.
Formed in August 2014, the Manufacturing Caucus includes 70 legislators from around the Commonwealth. Lawmakers focus on training for manufacturing employees, encouraging innovation by helping start-ups access resources, and expand apprenticeship opportunities in key manufacturing sectors.