Hope all is going well. Hard to believe February is already gone. Technically, as I write this, it should really be March and I would have missed my February update. It is nice to have an additional day every four years to help you “catch up” on something. I know I don’t think about it this way but it really does provide an extra day in your life. Since we’ve been in business, we’ve had an additional 6 days (2004, 2008, 2012, 2016, 2020 and 2024) to work with. Not sure what I was doing on each of these days (likely just working) but I can say that today I was working on this blog (as well as working).
March is going to be a busy time for the company on many fronts. It’s also time for a few shout-outs and announcements for some upcoming events. I would first like to welcome Mr. Mark Guitarini to our Business Advisory Board. Here is the official announcement for those of you that missed it (https://www.biosurfaces.us/single-post/mark-guitarini-joins-biosurfaces-business-advisory-board). Mark is a seasoned strategic executive with over 35 years of experience spanning Business Development, Project Management, R&D, Manufacturing, and Operations in the diagnostics and medical device industries. He has a remarkable track record, having roots in esteemed organizations like General Dynamics and Textron, Mark transitioned his focus to medical devices, contributing significantly to companies such as Tyco Healthcare, Covidien, and Haemonetics. This experience, along with his pivotal involvement in the National Institutes of Health RADx and ITAP programs for COVID-19 testing, will be invaluable to help guiding BioSurfaces as the company heads toward manufacturing. Welcome aboard Mark!
I would like to acknowledge Dr. Patrick Hayden from our team. Pat led a group of scientists to publish research conducted by him and his team at his previous employer. Pat’s publication was just selected as Paper of the Year by the 2024 Society of Toxicology (SOT) Risk Assessment Specialty Section. We are proud to have Pat as part of our team and were glad to see him be able to publish his previous research studies. There is no greater accomplishment as a scientist to see the fruits of your labor being acknowledged. Pat and his team will be honored at this year’s SOT meeting in March. You can also review the publication yourself (https://lnkd.in/d5h-mSze). In addition to receiving this prestigious award, Pat will also be presenting his ongoing research at BioSurfaces in a poster session at the SOT meeting. His research entitled “Next-Generation In Vitro Full-Thickness Human Skin Models Produced Using Electrospun Scaffolds” is funded, in part, by a grant from the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). Congratulations to Pat and the respective teams on both fronts!
Along with Pat, our business team will be heading to the SOT meeting (March 9th – March 14th). This is the first major meeting that our team will be attending to showcase our IVRT products, which range from individual inserts and high-throughput screening plates to stand-alone Bio-Spun™ scaffolds that can be purchased for a customer’s niche application. We will also be showing our partner Finnadvance’s microfluidics platform that uses our Bio-Spun™ scaffolds along with their Akita platform. Please stop by booth 1545 to check out our products and say hello to Nate and Cam from our team.
The week after SOT, BioSurfaces is hosting a new webinar entitled “Unlocking Potential: Cell Therapy's Impact on Future Healthcare” on March 18th. BioSurfaces is excited about the progress of our Bio-Spun™ Cell Chamber, which in preclinical studies has shown promise as a "biofactory." This device encloses cells which produce a target drug while using nutrients to keep the cells fed and healthy. We believe our Bio-Spun™ Cell Chamber, when paired with target cells from a partner, could be used to treat diseases such as cancer, diabetes, Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. BioSurfaces currently has a grant from the National Institutes of Health that is focused on using our chamber to deliver islet cells to treat diabetes. Very early stages so we’ll see how it goes. Many of you have expressed interest in attending through LinkedIn. Please make sure to also register using this link https://lnkd.in/e9xZjgZm. The webinar is free and will have experts in different aspects of cell delivery to treat diseases. We can also send you the link if you cannot make it to the event.
On top of all of these events, we have several studies ongoing. Some of these as I previously mentioned are internally driven and some are connected with partners. We enjoy working on several areas at once. We have a team that is excellent at multi-tasking. We are also moving our IVRT products through our quality management system and manufacturing. This is requiring a significant amount of effort but it will be worth it. We have additional programs that will benefit from our manufacturing capabilities. Making sure we are all set for this growth, from space and people to manufacturing electrospinning units, is important. Some of these areas are moving quickly so we have to have the infrastructure in place.
Lots to keep up with this month so please keep checking into our social medias and website for continuous updates. Looking forward to reconnecting with you at the end of March.
Thank you for your continued support!
Matt