Written by editor on 14th October 2019. Posted in Career-FIT PLUS
SMART REACTORS OVERVIEW
Smart Reactors is a Product Development Company developing a range of Bio-Passive coatings for the Medical device industry. The company was founded in 2018 and is supported by Enterprise Ireland. Over the years, specialised medical device coatings have been designed to confer various clinical benefits from drug delivery, to reduce surface friction, prevent infection, and reduce blood clotting, and more recently to confer therapeutic benefits. Any foreign material placed in the heart or bloodstream has the potential to cause blood to clot and form a thrombosis or embolism.
For more than thirty years, the anticoagulant drug heparin has been employed as a covalently immobilized surface coating on a variety of medical devices. Heparin-coated devices however have numerous challenges, the main one being the risk of giving patients heparin-induced thrombocytopenia (HIT), which is a serious immune mediated drug reaction that can lead to stroke, heart attack, organ failure, pulmonary embolism, limb loss, or death.(1% HIT, with a 20% of 1% mortality rate) Other challenges include additional added focus on clinical and regulatory requirements by FDA, supply chain challenges as well as high manufacturing costs.
There is a continued demand for surface coatings which improve biocompatibility between living tissues and medical devices. To address the challenges of heparin however, some coating developers have developed synthetic, heparin-free biocompatible coatings.
Smart Reactors is in developed of an alternative proprietary Heparin-mimetic anticoagulant coating to support reduced usage of Heparin and reduce associated complication rates. The coating will have multiple applications and significantly less costly to manufacture.
Smart reactors are currently working through the product development and regulatory activities. Proof of concept and IP searches are now complete with a priority filling planned for November 2019.The next phase of the development involves further R&D process characterisation activity for which Smart Reactors will require an experienced researcher for c.36 months in conjunction with a Host Institute.
RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT CANDIDATE
Smart Reactors are looking for a researcher to join their company to develop a novel bio-compatible coating from concept through to commercialization. This research based role will be based within the Galway-Mayo Institute of Technology in Ireland.
Smart Reactors are executing a development program with a TRL 3 technology to finalise the proof of concept work and prepare for commercializing the surface technology.
The ideal candidate will have skills in one or more of the following areas
– materials science
– polymer chemistry
– biomedical science
– bio-compatibility testing
The role involves working closely with the technical and commercial arms of the company to ensure that clinical, regulatory, performance, intellectual property and commercial requirements of the technology are supported by scientifically sound data.
The successful candidate will be expected to embed themselves in the Research Institute and liaise with external service providers to bring ensure best practices are applied to the development, characterization, promotion and commercialization of the technology .
Please contact:
Brian Haddigan
087 2037556