Press Releases

July 7, 2005
Stratatech Awarded $4,000,000 NIH Grant

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has awarded Stratatech Corporation a $4 million Fast-Track SBIR grant from the National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. Under this grant, Stratatech will work to develop a genetically engineered therapeutic human skin substitute with enhanced antimicrobial and angiogeneic properties for use in the treatment of type 1 diabeteic skin ulcers. It is estimated that in the United States alone, over 800,000 people suffer from this type of ulcer and the number is growing.

Chronic diabetic skin ulcers, a life threatening complication of diabetes, exhibit poor blood flow and typically become infected resulting in impaired wound healing and amputations. Stratatech is developing human skin substitutes that secrete enhanced levels of biologically active antimicrobial peptides that healthy skin normally produces.

Stratatech was established in 2000 and currently operates within the MGE Innovation Center in University Research Park (Madison, WI). In addition to its products targeting chronic wounds, Stratatech is working with the FDA to evaluate the safety and efficacy of its flagship engineered skin tissue product, StrataGraft™ skin tissue, for the treatment of burn victims. Stratatech's products are based on a patented, unique source of pathogen-free human skin cells that was identified at the University of Wisconsin as
being able to multiply indefinitely.