
Semprus BioSciences Corp. won a $1 million grant to develop orthopedic devices resistant to biofilm formation for the U.S. Army’s Telemedicine & Advanced Technology Research Center.
Biofilms are the foundation for the most bacterial complications associated with implanted medical devices, according to a Semprus press release.
"Our goal is to dramatically reduce complication rates in orthopedic devices implanted in our men and women in the Armed Forces," CTO Christopher Loose said in prepared remarks. "We expect our technology to reduce wound complications, amputation and mortality in soldiers with orthopedic injuries."
Semprus develops technology to "coat" medical devices with its Sustain technology.
Instead of being "attached to [the device’s] surface in a temporary fashion," as CEO David Lucchino told MassDevice in a podcast interview earlier this year, Sustain is grown from the material itself as a "physical extension" of the device’s material.
"Think of it as billions of molecular-sized oak trees, and how you grow those oak trees out of the substrate … creates the long-term performance," Lucchino said.
The scope of the work done in collaboration with the army will focus on adapting Semprus technology to orthopedic materials, including titanium.

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