Biomatter: A pathway from applied science to technology transfer

ELIDA B HERMIDA

Porto Alegre

Workshop; Humboldt Kolleg 2014: "Science and methods: Paradigms and perspectives"; 2014

Universidad Federal de Rio Grande do Sul

Biomatter emerges as public private partnership consortium (CAPP) between the public sector (National University of San Martin and National Council of Scientific and Technical Research) and the private sector (a national pharmaceutical company and two private entrepreneurs). Members of the public sector are young professionals in the areas of materials, chemistry, microbiology, biotechnology and physics, doomed to technological development of highly innovative biomedical products. Private entrepreneurs promote links with the medical sector and investors, who must be appealed by the benefits of the product and the associated market. Finally, private pharmaceutical company that integrates the CAPP brings expertise in scaling production, regulatory and commercial aspects. The main challenge is to sustain BIOMATTER innovative development of biomedical products from biodegradable polymers, integrate young professionals to a field of applied transdisciplinary and find good business opportunities that allow the growth of this technology-based research. The first product is a kit for skin regeneration based on tissue engineering. This is a set of three parts: a tool for making a skin biopsy of the patient, a device for keratinocytes from biopsies and bioresorbable membrane which is seeded with cells from the recipient and is disposed on the wound or lesion. The product is suitable for deep skin regeneration burns, venous or arterial ulcers, bedsores, etc. In the near future BIOMATTER foresees the development of innovative biomedical devices for bone tissue regeneration, controlled release of drugs, in vitro cell growth, among others.