BioTisSeal · Bioactive Tissue Sealant for Enhanced Wound Repair

Wound management is a routine part of medical practices worldwide, and delays in healing cause a significant clinical and economic burden. Current tissue sealant formulations that are used for wound care pose various limitations, including inability for filling in larger defects and release of toxic by-products (especially from synthetic polymers). Additionally, most of the commercial sealants provide no bioactive properties, or at best rely on bulk GF loading for inducing cell infiltration or tissue regeneration. The development of a tunable, bioactive hydrogel based tissue sealants thus provides an attractive opportunity as cell-instructive substrates for enhanced wound healing.BioTisSeal aims to develop the technology for fabricating “off-the shelf” bioactive tissue sealants that can not only help in wound closure (or reduce blood loss), but also stimulate better healing. BioTisSeal will combine the tunable elasticity and adhesive strength of gelatin methacryloyl (GelMA) pre-polymers with angiogenic growth factor (GF) specific aptamers that are capable of sequestering and concentrating GFs that are already present in the tissue fluid at the wound site. By coupling this to the controlled release behavior of aptamers, a spatiotemporal control of GF bioavailability is achieved for enhanced wound repair.BioTisSeal will not only develop the technology to make this possible, but will also take vital steps to bring this technology to the market. By securing the IP, and analyzing the market connected to BioTisSeal technology, a fruitful basis for translation will be formed. The inclusion of both a leading wound care company and a clinician in the advisory board, will further ensure that BioTisSeal is optimally geared towards clinical translation.