Boston-area startup Akeso Biomedical is developing an iron-based compound to prevent foodborne illnesses, treat chronic wounds, and serve as bioscaffolding.
The nascent device company just raised a small equity round of $225,000. It’s led by Simon Williams, the former president of biomaterials maker Tepha; the primary Fe3C technology is licensed from the University of Nottingham.
Its first application, Akeso says, is a feed additive to prevent food poisoning from Campylobacter. Here’s how it says it works (which can be extrapolated into medical device use for wound care):
The company’s lead Fe3C product is a feed additive that can prevent the binding of Campylobacter to the wall of the chicken’s GI tract. The Fe3C compound binds to a surface protein on the Campylobacter called MOMP, and prevents the MOMP protein from adhering to the epithelial cells lining the chicken’s GI tract. Importantly, Campylobacter will not become resistant to the Fe3C compound because it does not destroy the bacteria, but rather prevents binding and subsequent infection.
Akeso says it’s also licensed silk fibroin technology from Tufts University, and will incorporate its Fe3C compounds to build silk scaffolds to be used for wound care. Here’s what Tufts has to say about it:
The significant advantages of the Tufts technology include the ability to control the rate of degradation of the silk, and produce silk solutions that can be processed into different formats from water, including films and sponges, and used to deliver active agents that can speed healing.
