Medical technology firm lands $100K federal grant

Madison, Wis. - Every surgical operation requires proper wound closure to ensure timely healing and protection from complications, and a Madison start-up business has received a $100,000 federal grant to develop alternatives to existing wound-care products.

Nerites Corp., which develops tissue repair products and advanced coatings for implanted medical devices, has received a $100,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant.

The peer-reviewed grant, which was awarded by the National Institute of General Medical Sciences, a component of the National Institutes of Health, will fund research on Nerites' biodegradable, water-resistant tissue adhesives.

Thomas J. Mozer, president and CEO of Nerites, said the money will be used to develop a series of new, biologically-compatible products with better adhesive properties than anything on the market.

The most common closure methods are suturing and stapling, but Nerites is developing degradable tissue adhesives that eliminate the need for removal of the wound-closure device. Its products are based on research by Dr. Phil Messersmith at Northwestern University's Department of Biomedical Engineering, who has studied how marine mussels bind to surfaces under water.

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