TMD LAB (CEO Hak-Joon Sung) and the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) under the US Department of Commerce are starting joint research on the properties of SMP materials.

TMD LAB received a Cooperative Research and Development Agreement (CRADA) proposal from the NIST and signed the agreement on October 11 2022. Both sides are expected to build a DNA database for various SMP materials through joint research and develop materials that further reduce the formation of biofilms, thereby enhancing the utility of SMP as implantable medical devices.

TMD LAB and the biomaterials group of NIST signed a confidential disclosure agreement for joint research in April last year. In addition, basic research on the structural properties of SMP of TMD LAB has been conducted.

The biomaterials group of NIST is composed of researchers specialized in various biomaterials and cell-to-cell interactions, microbial measurement, spectroscopy, etc. And they showed a lot of interest in the characteristics of SMP of TMD LAB, which led to the conclusion of CRADA (Cooperative Research and Development. Agreement).

SMP developed by TMD LAB can restore shape near body temperature and control the speed of shape recovery from several seconds to several minutes or more. In addition, it is characterized by reducing the formation of biofilms caused by microbial infection by 74% compared to silicon. TMD LAB is developing various medical devices inserted into the human body, such as non-vascular stents such as external vascular wrapping support and bile duct stent, ophthalmic devices, and plastic implants by utilizing the characteristics of these SMP.

Hak-Joon Sung, CEO of TMD LAB, explained, “I know that it is rare for NIST to sign a joint R&D agreement with a foreign private company. We expect that this joint research would facilitate the expansion of the market for implantable medical devices using SMP.”