| RELATED INFO |
| * Leslie Geddes |
| * Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering |
| * Cook Biotech Inc. |
November 26, 2007
Purdue Research Park company to be featured on History Channel
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - |
Cook Biotech produces a regenerative tissue graft called Surgisis Biodesign. The material's medical applications were discovered initially in the 1980s by a research team led by Leslie Geddes, Purdue's Showalter Distinguished Professor Emeritus of Biomedical Engineering.
Cook Biotech was created in 1995 at the Purdue Research Park to develop practical, commercial medical products from Surgisis Biodesign. The company uses it for a variety of applications, including the treatment of hernias and fistulas, chronic wounds and burns, repairing the brain's dura covering, and creating a "sling" that repositions a woman's bladder to treat incontinence. More than 500,000 patients in more than 25 countries have been treated using Surgisis Biodesign products made in West Lafayette by the company.
Cook Biotech, a company with shared ownership by Cook Group Inc., unveiled a new 55,000-square-foot manufacturing, research and development facility in 2004. The expansion, which quadrupled the company's West Lafayette facility, includes new cleanroom manufacturing space where employees produce sterile, pliable sheets that work as a scaffold to facilitate the growth of new tissue. Cook Biotech has received clearances from the Food and Drug Administration for medical product applications in wound care, burn management, plastic and reconstructive surgery, hernia repair, urological surgery, and general surgery.
Established in 1961, the Purdue Research Park is located two miles north of the university's West Lafayette campus.
Writer: Emil Venere, (765) 494-4709, venere@purdue.edu
Sources: Mark Bleyer, President & CEO of Cook Biotech Inc., (765) 497 3355, mbleyer@CookBiotech.com
David McCarty, global director of public relations for Cook Medical, 1-800-346-2686, dave.mccarty@cookmedical.com
Leslie Geddes, (765) 494-2997, geddes@ecn.purdue.edu
W. David Lasater, Weldon School of Biomedical Engineering, (765) 496-3568, dlasater@purdue.edu
Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; purduenews@purdue.edu
PHOTO CAPTION:
Cook Biotech Inc. manufactures tissue-engineered medical products from a specific portion of porcine (swine) small intestine. This special tissue, seen here, is developed into strong, sterile, pliable sheets that serve as biocompatible scaffolds to make medical products for surgical repair of hernias, wounds, burns and other soft-tissue injuries. The material works as a scaffolding for surrounding cells that facilitate the repair of damaged tissues. (File photo/Cook Biotech Inc.)
A publication-quality photograph is available at https://www.purdue.edu/uns/images/cook.doc.jpeg
To the News Service home page