Promising Minnesota spinoff removes founding scientist from its board

Founders of companies often clash with CEOs hired to operate the business. But at Miromatrix Medical, a Minnesota company spun out of the University of Minnesota, it happened with lightning speed.

By all accounts, Miromatrix has the potential to revolutionize human disease management.

The company was spun out of the “U” in December 2009 and formally set up in February 2010 when the university signed an exclusive licensing agreement allowing the research of Dr. Doris Taylor to be commercialized. Taylor, director of the university’s Center for Cardiovascular repair, drew international attention in 2008 when she and her team were successful in keeping a rat’s heart beating in the laboratory. The event was considered to be a significant development toward the eventual goal of producing replacement organs for humans.

But by July of last year, five months after the licensing deal was struck, the school and the company’s board, which includes a co-inventor, had decided it was time to remove Taylor from the board. In the words of the Star Tribune: “just five months after publicly vaulting Taylor into business to commercialize her technology, the university quietly fired her from the board of the company she founded.”

The problem? Taylor tells the Star Tribune that she feels she asked too many questions, which weren’t appreciated by the company – especially veteran healthcare industry CEO Robert Cohen. The story also hints at sexism.

On Monday, the day after the Star Tribune reported the story, the U took issue with Star Tribune’s choice of the word “fire.” In a statement Tim Mulchay, the school’s vice president of of research, said the following:

The University does not hold a position on the Miromatrix board of directors and did not ‘fire’ Dr. Taylor. Ultimately, it was the board’s decision to terminate Dr. Taylor as a member, but as a shareholder the University voted its shares in support of a recommendation to remove her from the board.

Cohen, for his part, hasn’t responded to a call and an email sent earlier Monday.

The university’s statement goes on to add that Miromatrix has been able to replicate Dr. Taylor’s achievement and is looking for viable ways to commercialize it.

“The company is working productively with co-inventor Dr. Harald Ott, is meeting all the milestones in its licensing agreement with the University, and has successfully secured funding in extremely challenging times for all startup companies,” Mulcahy says in the statement.

And while the school agreed with the board to remove Taylor, the statement from Mulcahy also aims to soothe: “Dr. Taylor remains a productive and valued faculty member of the University of Minnesota.”