As demand grows for safer surgical outcomes, a University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB) spinout is using its Bionanomatrix™ platform to improve healing and reduce complications associated with implanted medical devices.
Endomimetics, founded by Ho-Wook Jun, Ph.D., Professor of Biomedical Engineering, and Brigitta Brott, M.D., Professor of Medicine in the UAB Division of Cardiovascular Disease and Professor of Biomedical Engineering, uses technology centered around a “bio-inspired” coating and gel made from self-assembling peptide amphiphiles that form into a nanomatrix, a nanoscale scaffold designed to mimic key properties of natural tissue.
The technology can be applied as a coating on implants such as stents, grafts, orthopedic hardware, and dental implants or used as a gel placed around surgical sites. The platform is designed to deliver therapeutic molecules directly where healing is needed while improving tissue integration and reducing inflammation, thrombosis, and scarring. 
“Implantable devices and surgical interventions often fail not because the hardware is mechanically inadequate, but because the body responds with inflammation, thrombosis, scarring, infection, or poor tissue integration,” said Joseph Garner, Ph.D., Endomimetics Chief Executive Officer. “Bionanomatrix aims to shift that response by making the device surface behave more like healthy endothelium or tissue.”
Since 2023, Endomimetics has secured more than $3.5 million in competitive federal and state funding, including a $2.8 million NIH Phase II SBIR award focused on brain aneurysm treatment, a $300,000 SBIR award for atherosclerosis drug discovery, and a $100,000 Innovate Alabama award supporting orthopedic applications. The company has also expanded its research pipeline to six active programs spanning vascular, orthopedic, and dental applications.
Preclinical efficacy data for the company’s lead Arteriovenous Fistula (AVF) Gel program has been published in the medical journal Biomaterials, and Endomimetics is actively collaborating with dental materials company BISCO on additional applications for this technology.
The AVF Gel program focuses on improving outcomes for dialysis patients undergoing arteriovenous fistula surgery. According to Endomimetics, the technology could reduce AVF maturation failure by more than 70 percent, potentially reducing repeat surgeries, infections, and healthcare costs for patients on dialysis.
The technology is currently in the late preclinical stage, with Investigational New Drug (IND)-enabling studies underway and an FDA pre-IND meeting planned. Endomimetics is targeting an IND submission in 2027 followed by a Phase I clinical trial in dialysis patients.
Beyond vascular applications, Endomimetics views the Bionanomatrix™ platform as a broader technology engine capable of supporting multiple medical applications and partnerships, Garner said.
Looking ahead, the company hopes to complete a Phase I safety clinical trial to establish the safety and dosage range in a small group of human participants, fully enroll in a Phase II clinical trial, and secure at least one licensing agreement with a major MedTech partner within the next five years. Endomimetics also plans to launch a dedicated AVF Gel spinout company in late 2026 while continuing to expand its intellectual property portfolio and development pipeline.
“What has kept us building this company is a combination of a very concrete patient-focused mission, the validation that our science is actually working, and the realization that we’re building a platform rather than a one-off product,” Garner said.
To learn more about Endomimetics, visit the company’s website at https://endomimetics.com/.
-- June 9, 2026