SBIR Phase I: Biomimetic Adhesive for Seroma Prevention

这个小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目提出开发一种用于预防血清肿的新型仿生粘合剂。商业生物粘合剂已经证明了混合的结果，因为它们受到弱粘合强度、混合前体的需要和不期望的降解速率的阻碍。因此，对于开发用于预防血清肿的新的和改进的粘合剂仍然存在未满足的临床需求。Nerites公司开发了一种粘合剂，这种粘合剂是贻贝粘合蛋白的合成模拟物，可以在潮湿、湍流的盐水环境中与岩石和船体牢固结合。Nerites？新系列的粘合剂在使用前不需要混合或溶解，并且显示出比目前可用的粘合剂显著更高的强度。因此，Nerites认为这些新材料将显著改善许多血清肿患者的临床结局。本研究的更广泛/商业影响是血清肿形成的潜在减少，血清肿是许多手术的术后并发症。虽然市场对Nerites？粘合剂可能最终扩展到包括组织平面分离的任何手术，最初的焦点涉及术后引流是实践标准的程序。减少使用引流管的益处包括增加患者舒适度、缩短住院时间、缩短化疗时间和降低伤口感染风险。因此，尼立特人？最初的目标外科手术包括乳房切除术、腹部成形术和开放式腹疝修补术，每年进行的手术估计超过500，000例，其中血清肿形成的发生率可高达59%。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project proposes to develop a novel biomimetic adhesive for seroma prevention. Commercial bioadhesives have demonstrated mixed results as they are hampered by weak adhesive strengths, the need to mix precursors, and undesirable degradation rates. Thus, there continues to be an unmet clinical need for the development of a new and improved adhesive for seroma prevention. Nerites Corporation has developed adhesives that are synthetic mimics of the mussel adhesive proteins that can bind strongly to rocks and ship hulls in a wet, turbulent saline environment. Nerites? new series of adhesives requires no mixing or dissolution before use, and demonstrates significantly higher strength than currently available adhesives. Therefore, Nerites believes that these new materials will significantly improve clinical outcomes of many patients suffering from seroma. The broader/commercial impacts of this research are a potential reduction in seroma formation, a postoperative complication in many surgeries. Although the market for Nerites? adhesives may eventually expand to include any surgery where tissue planes are separated, the initial focus involves procedures where postoperative drains are the standard of practice. The benefits that result from reduced use of drains include increased patient comfort, shorter hospital stay, reduced chemotherapy duration, and decreased risk of wound infection. Therefore, Nerites? initially targeted surgical procedures include mastectomy, abdominoplasty, and open ventral hernia repair, with a combined estimate of more than 500,000 surgeries performed annually, where incidences of seroma formation can be as high as 59%.