NuVascular Technologies Partners with Textile and Vascular Surgery Experts to Form New Scientific Advisory Board

    ASHLAND, MA, February 25, 2015 /24-7PressRelease/ -- NuVascular Technologies, Inc. has partnered with some of the most respected minds in science to commercialize its patented nanotechnology for hemodialysis and peripheral vascular graft devices.

"Our partnerships with those on our Scientific Advisory Board give us the valuable perspective of specialists at the top of the fields that are so important to our research and development - textiles and vascular surgery," said NuVascular Technologies co-founder and serial entrepreneur, Eugene Anton. "To have their endorsements is truly an honor, and we know with their support we will be able to develop this technology to its fullest potential."

NuVascular Technologies is currently in discussions with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and the European Medicines Agency (EMA) to commercialize its next generation vascular graft products, starting with the hemodialysis access graft. The company was recently spun off from BioSurfaces, Inc., which developed the technology with over $6.6 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health. NuVascular Technologies has an exclusive license from BioSurfaces to develop these technologies.

"We are so fortunate to be able to work with the best of the best in both the textile and medical fields," said NuVascular Technologies co-founder and long-time vascular researcher, Matthew D. Phaneuf. "The applications of our patented electrospinning nanotechnology are almost limitless, and our Scientific Advisory Board is guiding us every step of the way for development of these devices."

The Scientific Advisory Board includes:
• Frank W. LoGerfo, M.D.: Distinguished William V. McDermott professor of surgery at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and former chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, which was recently named after him.
• Martin J. Bide, Ph.D.: Professor in the Department of Textiles and former chair of the department at the University of Rhode Island.
• Phillip J. Brown, Ph.D.: J R Swetenburg Sr. endowed chair professor in engineering at Clemson University's School of Materials Science and Engineering.
• Michael S. Conte, M.D.: Professor and chief of the Vascular Surgery Department at the University of California San Francisco.

Full biographies for the Scientific Advisory Board members are available below:

Frank W. LoGerfo, M.D.: LoGerfo, the Distinguished William V. McDermott professor of surgery at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center and former chief of the Division of Vascular Surgery, which was recently named after him, serves as a scientific advisor for NuVascular Technologies, Inc. He has been involved extensively in prosthetic vascular graft research for more than 32 years. Within this time, an unprecedented 300 publications and presentations associated with prosthetic graft implantation procedures, mechanisms of graft failure and research directed toward creating a biocompatible graft have been established. LoGerfo also has numerous patents regarding surface immobilization of various agents. He is the director of the William J. von Liebig Foundation, the Vascular Devices and Technology Initiative at Harvard Medical School and Harvard-Longwood Basic Research Training in Vascular Surgery and serves on the board of directors for PolyMedica Corporation.

Martin J. Bide, Ph.D.: Bide, professor in the Department of Textiles and former chair of the department at the University of Rhode Island, serves as a scientific advisor for NuVascular Technologies, Inc. Bide received his doctoral degree from the University of Bradford in the United Kingdom in 1979. He is a fellow of the Society of Dyers and Colourists, and an active member of the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists (AATCC), where he has chaired the committees on Applied Dyeing Theory and Safety, Health and Environmental Technology. He now chairs the Publications Committee and serves as the acting president of the AATCC after just finishing a three-year term as the association's New England regional vice president. At the undergraduate level he teaches several textile science subjects. His research interests include: dyeing, printing, dyestuff analysis, wool processing, color science, the environmental effects of textile processing, and biomedical textiles. He has worked on pollution prevention projects in Tunisia, Ecuador and India. Additionally, he worked with Margaret Ordo'ez to provide the FBI a database of dyed fibers and spoke at the fall 2004 forensic science seminar series.

Philip J. Brown, Ph.D.: Brown, the J R Swetenburg Sr. endowed chair professor in engineering at Clemson University, serves as a scientific advisor NuVascular Technologies, Inc. Brown joined School of Materials Science and Engineering at Clemson University as a faculty member in January 2002. He earned a Bachelor of Science (honors) in textile chemistry in 1987 and received a Ph.D. from The School of Textile Industries in England in 1991. After several years of research, including a year and a half at Heriot Watt University as a teaching and research fellow, he went back to Leeds as a lecturer in the School of Textile Industries. Brown's current research interests include fiber spinning and the production of deep groove capillary surface channeled fibers; fabrication of polymeric photonic crystal fibers; the production and properties of hollow fiber membranes including examination of phase inversion conditions; the dry jet wet and wet spinning of fibers; and electrospinning of fibers and nanofibers. Additional interests are in the broader areas of dyeing and finishing, including self-cleaning fabrics and fibers, the crosslinking of synthetic fibers and the application of UV laser radiation to textile substrates. He also is the chair of the Materials Interest Group of the American Type Culture Collection, a participant on the American Association of Textile Chemists and Colorists publications committee and a member of American Chemical Society and the Fiber Society.

Michael S. Conte, M.D.: Conte, professor and chief of the Vascular Surgery Department at the University of California San Francisco, serves as scientific advisor for NuVascular Technologies, Inc. Prior to moving to the University of California, Conte was an associate professor of surgery at Harvard Medical School and director of vascular surgery research at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston. He was also co-director of the Clinical Trials Group at the Center for Surgery and Public Health, a joint initiative of Harvard Medical School, Brigham and Women's Hospital and the Harvard School of Public Health. He is a vascular surgeon and scientist whose translational research program has encompassed the range from basic laboratory investigations to large multi-center clinical trials. His research has focused on molecular therapies for control of the vascular injury response, with a goal of improving the long-term results of cardiovascular grafts and interventional procedures. His basic and clinical research programs have each been supported by the National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute. Conte served as lead investigator of the PREVENT III trial - a multi-center, Phase III study of an oligonucleotide therapy for the prevention of peripheral vein graft failure. He has authored or co-authored more than 60 peer-reviewed publications, as well as numerous book chapters and reviews. He is a member of several academic societies, including a distinguished fellow of the Society for Vascular Surgery, Society of University Surgeons, Association for Academic Surgery and the New England Society for Vascular Surgery. He has also served on the scientific advisory board of several biotechnology/pharmaceutical companies. Currently, he serves as an associate editor for circulation, and is on the editorial boards of the Journal of Vascular Surgery, Vascular Medicine, Vascular and Endovascular Surgery, and Vascular. His vascular surgery clinical practice focuses on complex limb revascularization, aortic and carotid artery surgeries and hemodialysis access.

About NuVascular Technologies:
NuVascular Technologies, Inc. was established in Ashland, Mass., in 2014. The company was formed to commercialize patented technology developed over the past decade by BioSurfaces, Inc. and to further develop next-generation nanotechnology. Under the direction of an experienced management team, the company is developing medical solutions that mimic natural tissue growth and incorporate targeted drug delivery.

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