Stimlabs LLC has taken a new view of wound healing by developing a fenestrated dehydrated complete human placental membrane allograft for chronic and acute wounds. The fenestration in the Release product allows fluids to drain away from the wound, promoting faster healing, while the tissue provides protection.

The $1.83 million grant Fesarius Therapeutics Inc. was recently awarded will allow the company to work on the next generation of dermal repair products to treat complex wounds. The funds from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) will go towards further development of the company’s advanced dermal regeneration scaffold for reconstructive surgery and takes the total amount of non-dilutive grant funding Fesarius has received to develop its hydrogel technology, Dermisphere, to $4 million.

Cresilon Inc. obtained U.S. FDA clearance for a hemostatic gel that staunches the flow of blood from minor external wounds. The Cresilon hemostatic gel (CHG) is the first technology to blend polymers from the algae plant to instantaneously create a mechanical barrier against bleeding.

Saturating bioactive glass with silver sustains the metal’s antimicrobial properties and reduces biofilm formation, researchers at the University of Birmingham, U.K., found. Their study, published in Biofilm, demonstrated that specific preparation, storage and application techniques minimize the transformation of silver ions to silver chloride that typically reduces silver’s healing properties over time.

Ra Medical Systems Inc. launched a simple device that holds sutures more securely in place for closure of percutaneous wound sites during cardiac electrophysiology, structural heart and vascular surgical procedures.

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are exploring avenues to heal wounds by identifying proteins that are active in fetuses, but largely inactive in adults and absent in diabetic adults. They have identified a protein called nonselenocysteine-containing phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase, or NPGPx, that fits the bill and could be the basis for therapies aimed at diabetic wound healing. NPGPx is a direct transcriptional target of miR-29. miR-29 is downregulated in fetal tissue, thus NPGPx is active in fetal tissue but becomes mostly inactive in the skin after birth.

Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine are exploring avenues to heal wounds by identifying proteins that are active in fetuses, but largely inactive in adults and absent in diabetic adults. They have identified a protein called nonselenocysteine-containing phospholipid hydroperoxide glutathione peroxidase, or NPGPx, that fits the bill and could be the basis for therapies aimed at diabetic wound healing. NPGPx is a direct transcriptional target of miR-29. miR-29 is downregulated in fetal tissue, thus NPGPx is active in fetal tissue but becomes mostly inactive in the skin after birth.

Urgo Group SAS has launched, in the presence of the Minister of Health François Braun, the creation of Genesis research laboratory on artificial skin. “Our objective with this novel tissue engineering laboratory is to create artificial skin for helping the health care professionals in the effective treatment of severe wounds and quickly curing the patients,” Guirec Le Lous, CEO of Paris-based Urgo Medical, told BioWorld. Urgo Medical is the advance wound care division of Urgo Group SAS.

Unlike amphibians, mammals do not regenerate appendages. Except when they do. “If you amputate one of the branches off of the antler [of a reindeer], it will also regenerate,” Jeff Biernaskie told BioWorld. Even without amputation, the antlers of both male and female reindeer regenerate annually, including their skin. That regeneration is “the only large mammal model of true skin regeneration,” he said.