Welcome to the April issue of Materials World
Translating research into clinical practice is the ultimate goal for our contributors this issue. Quite rightly, there are regulations and protocols to follow, as well as commercialisation hoops to pass through. Spin-out companies born out of university research are one vehicle. In this issue, we hear from several academics turned entrepreneurs.
Professor Ipsita Roy FIMMM of the University of Sheffield, UK, shares her passion for using bacteria-derived polymers to create medical devices. She has worked on tissue engineering for the heart, lungs, pancreas and kidney, as well as production of stents, scaffolds and nerve guidance conduits. Her most recent venture is a spin-out company, PHAsT, which produces medical-grade polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHAs).
Tissue Click Ltd CEO Sophia Khan and Founder and Director Matteo Santin FIMMM share their journey of technopreneurship in applying biomimetics to biomaterials design for implants. They discuss an 'alternative' business model for commercialising research from the University of Brighton, UK.
The authors say, 'At the time of its inception, a clear vision was set for Tissue Click. There was no immediate urgency to go out in search of investors. The conviction was that years of work to build knowledge in the field of biomimetic biomaterials could be considered an investment on which it was now time to capitalise. We were equally clear that the company vision was to return to communities the investment from the public. With this ethos at the company’s heart, we patiently began to bid for public funding through Innovate UK and European Commission calls for proposals.'
Furthermore, Tissue Click has been a training ground for early-career scientists working at the interface of materials science and regenerative medicine.
Support to market is key for firms like these. Two accelerator schemes are featured in this issue – the UK’s ‘Northern Triangle’ and the Yorkshire MedTech Place-Based Impact Accelerator. We hope you enjoy this issue.
