matrihealth GmbH, a spin-off of the Fraunhofer Institute for Microstructure of Materials and Systems IMWS, aims to be the first company in the world to produce elastin in medical quality and on an industrial scale by the end of 2025. Elastin is one of the most important structural proteins and is essential for the elasticity and tensile strength of organs and tissues as well as wound healing, and is also the basis for the cultivation of human cell tissue in transplant medicine. By scaling up production, matrihealth will be able to offer customers in the cosmetics, pharmaceutical, medical and food industries market-specific elastin precursors for a wide range of applications at significantly lower costs.

matrihealth GmbH was spun off from the Fraunhofer IMWS in 2022. Fraunhofer already supported the team financially during the start-up phase and actively participated in its development. The start-up is currently exploring locations for the start of production in Saxony-Anhalt.

The natural protein elastin has unique mechanical and biochemical properties, but cannot be processed in its raw form and is not reproduced by the human body. The matrihealth founding team has developed a method to isolate elastin and make it available as a highly pure, water-soluble derivative that can be used in a variety of industrial applications. This enables the company to offer its customers a new type of biomaterial with highly configurable properties. In addition to water-soluble elastin, successful matrihealth products to date include elastin in powder and flake form as well as nanofiber nonwovens and protein sponges for medical applications.

Tobias Hedtke, Managing Director of matrihealth, explains the financing round: "With the support of Fraunhofer IMWS and Fraunhofer Venture, we have gained two exciting new investors with an in-depth understanding of the industry and market. The seed financing will enable us to realize our entrepreneurial mission over the next two years and expand the application possibilities of elastin to completely new markets and products by scaling up our production."

Christian Schmelzer, co-founder and now Deputy Director of the Fraunhofer IMWS, comments: "Thanks to the support of the new investors, matrihealth can now successfully continue the technology transfer and open up new applications and innovation potential for industry partners. This investment is also an honor for the research and technological expertise at our institute."