University Research Park Company Creates New Method for Treating Burns

When people become severely burned, there are limited options available to repair the skin and tissue that have been affected. People must undergo painful and tedious surgery and skin transplants to repair the damaged skin and tissues. Stratatech Corp., a Madison, WI based company, has been focused on creating new treatment options for severe burns and recently developed new human skin tissue called StrataGraft that was used to heal severe burn wounds in 30 patients during a recent clinical trial.

Written byLaura Braden

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Image credit: Heidas, Wikimedia CommonsIn the clinical trial, patients were treated with both StrataGraft and a graft made from their own skin to compare how each graft healed the burn. StrataGraft not only closed the burn injuries in the majority of patients, but the StrataGraft DNA also was undetectable after 3 months, showing that the patients own skin had been regenerated.

Lynn Allen-Hoffmann, chief executive and chief scientific officer at Stratatech explained that “this is the first severe burn therapy that has shown the potential to avoid painful skin transplants and regenerate the patient’s own skin.”

Stratatech researchers were also able to use frozen StrataGraft in the same way to heal burn injuries, extending the life of this new graft from two weeks to up to a year. “That means we can make it, stockpile or store it for a period of time, and then get it out to clinical sites as it’s needed,” Allen-Hoffmann said.

More research into the safety and effectiveness of StrataGraft needs to be conducted, but if this new graft treatment passes FDA examinations, it could be on the market in the next few years and become readily available as a new treatment method.

Stratatech is two years into a five-year grant worth $47.2 million to help fund the research, development and clinical trials of this StrataGraft.

Stratatech is one of the many bioresearch companies located at University Research Park in Madison, WI. This research complex is comprised of 37 research buildings and 1.8 million square feet of laboratory space, and employs over 10,000 researchers in the 126 life science companies located within the campus. With an annual contribution of $825 million to the state economy, University Research Park in Madison is a leader in biotechnology research and product development.

Resident research companies at University Research Park include:

Aldevron
Cell Line Genetics, LLC
Exact Sciences Corporation
Life Technologies
Phyllo Tech, LLC
Stratatech Corp.
Third Wave Technologies
WiCell Research Institute

Biotechnology Calendar, Inc. holds an annual product faire in Madison that gives lab suppliers the opportunity to meet with researchers at University Research Park. The 5th Annual BioResearch Product Faire™ Event at University Research Park will be held on July 16, 2015 and brings together lab supply companies with researchers from more than 30 different buildings and departments.

In the clinical trial, patients were treated with both StrataGraft and a graft made from their own skin to compare how each graft healed the burn. StrataGraft not only closed the burn injuries in the majority of patients, but the StrataGraft DNA also was undetectable after 3 months, showing that the patients own skin had been regenerated.