NSF Award
0944877
This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project aims to develop a bioresorbable scaffold material for applications in advanced wound healing, i.e., diabetic ulcers and pressure sores. The specific goal is to develop a highly porous biomaterial that is bifunctional, i.e., used as a dressing material for wounds treated with vacuum therapy (Negative Pressure Wound Therapy-NPWT), and also serve as a scaffold for tissue regeneration. Research shows that patients treated with NPWT have to undergo several painful dressing changes due to the tissue ingrowth that occurs into current dressings. Further, this repeated injury during dressing changes further delays healing. The project will address this important unmet need by developing a resorbable dressing-scaffold material that will allow ingrowth during NPWT, and then degrade at a desired rate to allow normal tissue to be regenerated and organized within the wounds. The technology addresses major clinical unmet needs in advanced wound healing and will produce significant reductions in treatment costs while improving the quality of life for patients who suffer from these debilitating wounds.<br/><br/>The broader impacts of this research are in a variety of applications in tissue regeneration and repair for general, cardiothoracic, and plastic surgery; trauma, sportsmedicine, and fracture healing. This novel scaffold technology will be developed within the framework of large scale foam manufacturing methods using industrial foaming and thermal reticulation techniques. This will also reduce the cost of the biomaterial and substantially impact healthcare spending across a broad range of clinical application areas in the US.
