Founders of companies often clash with CEOs hired to operate the business. But at Miromatrix Medical, a Minnesota company spun out of the University of Minnesota, it happened with lightning speed.By all accounts, Miromatrix has the potential to revolutionize human disease management.The company was spun out of the “U” in December 2009 and formally set [...]

The University of Minnesota said Wednesday that its researchers have successfully repaired damaged skin tissue using stem cells gleaned from bone marrow.In a study published Thursday in the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from the school’s Stem Cell Institute said the therapy can help patients who suffer from recessive dystrophic epidermolysis bullosa (RDEB), a [...]

Apparently, growing rat organs is the latest rage these days.Just weeks after researchers at the University of Minnesota medical school said they grew breathing rat lungs in a laboratory, a team from Massachusetts General Hospital and Harvard University announced they not only grew rat lungs but also implanted the organs into rats.The lungs worked for [...]

First a beating rat’s heart. Now breathing rat’s lungs.The way the University of Minnesota is going, a liver, kidney and pancreas can’t be far behind.Researchers at the Masonic Cancer Center and medical school said Monday it has grown breathing lungs from a rat in laboratory, the second time in two years the university has achieved [...]

Miromatrix CEO Robert Cohen has joined the executive advisory board for the Methuselah Foundation (MFoundation), a nonprofit medical charity that focuses on extending life and eliminating aging diseases.Cohen said he joined MFoundation to specifically work on the group’s NewOrgan Prize, a new scientific competition to stimulate work in regenerative medicine. The foundation will award cash, [...]

The $50 million angel tax credit passed by the Minnesota legislature Monday will no doubt provide much-needed early stage capital for young start-ups. But the law’s biggest benefit may not be dollars and cents, but rather how outsiders see Minnesota and how Minnesota sees itself.By passing the bill quickly in the legislative year and with [...]

Quantity or quality?Like most things in life, that’s not always an either/or question. Most people would prefer both. But as the University of Minnesota starts to shop its intellectual property a little more aggressively to investors, as evidenced by its first Life Sciences Showcase event at University Enterprise Laboratories Thursday morning, it’s something to think [...]

The company has already drawn considerable interest from investors across the country. Cohen said Miromatrix will likely raise the less than $1 million it needs for seed capital in 30 to 60 days. Miromatrix has already cashed a check from one angel investor, whom Cohen declined to name.

Sources say top business and political leaders in Wisconsin, including top Assembly Democrat Peter Barca, are lobbying hard for Miromatrix, which spun out of the University of Minnesota late last year, to establish its headquarters in the Badger State.

Rep. Ann Lenczewski’s opposition to angel credits flies in the face of evidence, experts, and the collective political and business will of Minnesota.