Shrink Nanotechnologies has applied to the US Patent & Trademark Office for certification of its Cell Align, cell culturing and tissue engineering material, and a immunoassay substrate.
The micro-fabricated substrate, Cell Align features random linear patterned grooves enabling cell alignment on a single axis. It is suitable for culturing biological tissues derived from stem cells, particularly those that grow without supervision in a linear manner in tissues of the heart and nerves.
According to Mark L. Baum, chief executive officer, the patents will allow his company to use a scalable production process. The materials and the production techniques will help deliver an improved product to end-users.
Tissue engineering and cell therapy accounted for a $6.9 billion market segment devoted to regenerative products in 2009 in the US, and is anticipated to touch $32 Billion over the next seven years, as predicted by a report titled, ‘Tissue Engineering, Cell Therapy and Transplantation: Products, Technologies & Market Opportunities, Worldwide, 2009-2018,’ in the 2010 MedMarket Diligence. The report also states that the cellular therapies market may help disorders such as degenerative and traumatic orthopedic and spine injuries, cardiac and vascular disease, neurological disorders, diabetes, inflammatory diseases and tooth decay.