TissueGen Hires Senior Scientist

Dallas, Texas-based TissueGen Inc. has recruited Jennifer Seifert, Ph.D. for the newly created role of senior scientist. She will lead the company’s application of Elute fiber technology to treat spinal cord injuries and related applications for regenerative medicine. Elute fiber is a biodegradable fiber format used in advanced drug delivery.

Seifert joins TissueGen from the University of Texas at Dallas where she held the position of research assistant professor in the department of bioengineering. She has an extensive background in molecular biology and neuroscience and has focused her research career largely upon the development of repair strategies for the central and peripheral nervous systems applying cellular and molecular mechanisms of axonal growth.

“We are excited to have a research scientist of Dr. Seifert’s caliber leading our spinal cord injury repair program as we enter Phase II animal trials to validate Elute fibers’ ability to enable nerve regeneration,” said CEO Christopher Knowles. “Jennifer’s research experience in spinal cord injury modeling makes her the ideal choice to lead TissueGen’s development of a cure for paralysis.”

As a postdoctoral fellow at University of Texas at Arlington, Seifert established an animal model of distraction spinal cord injury in collaboration with Texas Scottish Rite Hospital. She has also worked on evaluating nerve regeneration through a biosynthetic nerve conduit, establishing a wireless device and protocol for recording somatosensory evoked potentials, and testing the reliability and stability of a regenerative nerve electrode interface.

“A large focus of my career has been to apply knowledge of cellular neuroscience and signal transduction to models of spinal cord injury repair and I am now pleased to work with TissueGen’s Elute fibers to develop advanced treatments in nerve repair,” said Seifert.

TissueGen’s Elute fibers directly replace standard fibers in biodegradable medical textiles and may significantly improve clinical outcomes by delivering therapeutic agents directly at the surgical site. Through localized delivery of drugs at the site of implantation, Elute fibers may enable medical devices to orchestrate the body’s response.

Seifert holds a Ph.D. in molecular biology from Texas Woman’s University and bachelor of science in biology from the University of Texas at Dallas. She has received numerous honors, including being selected for the chancellor’s Research Scholar Award in 2006, 2007, and 2008 and was awarded a grant from the Scoliosis Research Society for her research project “Neuroprotection Against Oxidative Stress in an Animal Model of Distraction Spinal Cord Injury.”

TissueGen extrudes biodegradable polymer fibers with broad drug delivery capabilities well-suited for advanced drug delivery, nerve regeneration, and tissue engineering.