Hope all is going well. Spring, my favorite season, is all about rebirth and growth (image is from our trip to Cape Cod this past weekend). This description fits the company so well right now. Before we get into that, I’d like to start this week’s blog by making a shout-out to Dr. Clive Roper, Director of Roper Toxicology Consulting Limited (https://www.ropertcl.com/). Clive provides consulting services that help companies and institutions evaluate new and innovative technologies (both research models and/or CRO services). Here is a high- level example of what Clive does. A cosmetic company is making a new skincare product but wants to determine if this product is toxic to the customer’s skin. Clive can provide guidance to the company as to what tests they can conduct at the benchtop and can also perform them if that is desired by the company. Clive profiled BioSurfaces this week in his blog called Bite Sized Cool Technologies (https://www.ropertcl.com/post/bite-sized-cool-technologies-series-biosurfaces-llc). The blog provides readers a chance to learn about different technologies that Clive is interest in.
Clive previewed our In Vitro Research Tools (IVRT) business. It is a fancy way to say the plastic components that our Bio-Spun™ scaffolds are attached to that help researchers grow the body’s cells. As you know, we are working with
a cosmetic company that is looking to evaluate their products. They are using our Bio-Spun scaffold to grow human skin to potentially test their products. Here is some data from that study. What this data shows for the non-scientists that read this blog is that our fully artificial Bio-Spun™ scaffold made from polyester (think leisure suits for the old timers like me) can be used to grow tissue from human cells that looks just like skin. This model could be used to test different drugs, products, etc.
I was meeting with Cam today during our weekly marketing meeting and we were going over all of the opportunities that we’ve been pursuing. We then talked briefly about this week’s blog topic and he said that we have so much going on to talk about but too bad we can’t disclose most of it. While his statement is mostly true, I think (similar to the data above – hot off the press) that we can start to show you a little more data in the next few blogs without disclosing our connections. You can try to guess who we are talking about but we’ll never tell (we want to keep them as customers/partners). I am always amazed by the diversity of the company. This past week, we got word that our Bio-Spun™ scaffold has been successfully implanted by a company with their target cells into a preclinical model with no initial issues, which was great news. This device may be used to help treat liver disease, if it is successful. We then prepared Bio-Spun™ materials for a cosmetic company looking to simultaneously deliver skincare additives and fragrance. I have to say the lab has never smelled better. Thankfully, I work with Tina or she would have thought I was seeing another woman by the amount of fragrance on my clothes. We then pivoted to developing a R&D plan for a cardiac company after developing some prototype devices that they will be evaluating using our Bio-Spun™ materials. There were several other areas we worked on but you get the gist. All in a couple of weeks of work. This is why I love my job!
Last but certainly not least, I would next like to wish my wife Tina (and my partner in “crime”) a happy 31st wedding anniversary! I’ve been very blessed to share this journey that we call BioSurfaces with her. Sometimes it doesn’t feel like a blessing when you deal with all of the headaches a business brings, but overall, we’ve been very fortunate to have developed some great technology with some great people, both inside and outside the company. So many people say to me that they couldn’t work with their spouse. It is funny that it really doesn’t faze us at all. Sure, there are times that we have a disagreement or argument. We are human after all. Luckily, these are far and few in between. The benefit is that we both work in different areas of the company, her on the financial side and me on the science and business development sides. I think this separation of duties makes it a lot easier and forces us to get over the silly stuff that you argue about quicker. Not only do we work together, but we share an office so I am in throwing distance if I get the Italian a little perturbed (plus she’s got good aim from being a former softball player). After 19 years, I am glad to say that I haven’t had to dodge any projectiles (yet). If you don’t see the blog posted one week, you’ll know I wasn’t agile enough to get out of the way😊.
To all our US readers, we hope you have a happy and safe Memorial Day weekend!
Please make sure to check out #FactualFriday on June 3rd and we’ll see you back here on June10th.
Matt