A start-up company using research led by the University of Minnesota's Dr. Doris Taylor has received a $250,000 loan from Minnesota's Agricultural and Economic Development Board. The Minneapolis-based company, Miromatrix Medical Inc., is commercializing techniques to create human replacement organs.
"Miromatrix has the potential to revolutionize medicine," said Dan McElroy, chairman of the Ag Board and also commissioner of the Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Development. "The state is aggressively pursuing policies to make sure that companies like Miromatrix gain access to crucial funding to help them succeed and stay in Minnesota."
The Ag Board's loan is the first time the board has financially helped an emerging high-tech company. The board had traditionally used its revolving loan fund to help manufacturing firms.
The board's $250,000 loan will be matched by private investors.
Miromatrix springs from Taylor's research team, which created a beating animal heart in the lab in 2008. Miromatrix is licensing that technology from the university.
Peter Bianco will serve as the Ag Board's observer on Miromatrix's board of directors. Bianco is director of life-science business development at the Minneapolis law firm of Nilan Johnson Lewis.
WENDY LEE
