UA alumni finding early success with business developing innovative wound care technology

For individuals who deal with ulcers or undergo surgeries, healing from these medical challenges can often bring up a host of issues. Dressing and treating wounds, especially for patients who are caring for themselves after procedures, can be difficult and can result in infection and additional surgery. If wound care is not followed through meticulously, infection can even lead to amputation and, in some cases, death.

Two University of Akron (UA) alumni are taking on the challenge of wound infection prevention. Isaiah Kaiser ’19, ’23 and Aparna Agrawal ‘23, who both earned a Ph.D. from UA’s College of Engineering and Polymer Science, founded Auxilium Health. Auxilium is an early-stage company commercializing a new biomaterial platform technology that combines therapeutics and diagnostics in a wound dressing to help patients heal. Early testing has shown efficacy in prevention and prediction of infection-forming bacteria species.

Because Agrawal began the foundational research while she was a student at UA, during which time she partnered with Kaiser to co-found a company based on the work, the University’s Office of Technology Transfer (OTT) is actively supporting the development of the technology, now exclusively licensed to Auxilium.

Based in the Cleveland Clinic’s Global Cardiovascular Innovation Center, Auxilium is close to bringing the technology to the market and recently received a $275,000 Small Business Innovation Research grant from the National Science Foundation (NSF) with the goal of demonstrating preclinical safety and effectiveness of technology with scalable pilot production methods. The company also recently raised $1.5 million in a pre-seed funding round.

UA roots

Kaiser was born in Akron and had earned his bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering from the University. During and after the time he worked on his doctorate, Kaiser spent a few years with LTA Research, a startup based in the Silicon Valley area of California, which further fueled his interest in entrepreneurship and tough-tech startups.

Agrawal, who is from India, earned her undergraduate degree in polymers and engineering from the Institute of Chemical Technology in Mumbai before arriving at UA.

“I was interested in polymers, so Akron was the obvious choice,” she said. “I already knew about it from senior students who went to UA. It is the dream school of many students.”

Agrawal was working on her degree with Dr. Sadhan C. Jana, BF Goodrich Professor in the School of Polymer Science and Polymer Engineering. Jana’s research interests include nanoparticle filtration.

“I started working in that area, looking at air filtration and bacteria from water and air streams,” Agrawal said. “While I was participating in the program, I realized the glaring need in wound care because bacteria and biofilms are a huge problem in the medical field. From there we started addressing that need.”

One of Kaiser’s mentors knew Kaiser was looking for leadership and entrepreneurial opportunities and urged him to meet with Agrawal.

“One of my mentors told me, ‘You have to meet this brilliant student.’  He thought I should really look at the technology she’s working on and see if there was a possibility of working together to commercialize it,” said Kaiser, who noted, along with Agrawal, that Auxilium maintains a connection with UA through sponsorship – including financial support and opportunities to participate in Auxilium team meetings and offer input on technical challenges – of a Ph.D. student in Jana’s lab.

Kaiser agreed there was potential in Agrawal’s research for something impactful, especially with more than 6.5 million people in the U.S. affected by non-healing wounds, resulting in health care costs exceeding $50 billion annually, according to Auxilium. Kaiser has had family members who experienced wound issues, so this problem, he said, was close to his heart.

I-Corps research

After forming the company in 2022, Kaiser and Agrawal participated in UA’s NSF I-Corps program, facilitated by UARF, which prepares scientists and engineers to extend their focus beyond the laboratory to broaden the impact of basic-research projects by translating technology into commercial products.

“The University of Akron’s Office of Technology Transfer and the University of Akron Research Foundation (UARF) are proud to support Auxilium in its mission to bring innovative solutions to market,” said Kelly Bialek, director of OTT and executive director of UARF. “Auxilium demonstrates the kind of entrepreneurial spirit and cutting-edge research translation we strive to foster, and we look forward to seeing the impact of their work.”

Agrawal and Kaiser spent part of 2022 traveling across the country to meet with doctors and clinicians working in the areas of tissue regeneration, infection and wound care, to better understand the field and the market.

“We learned that most products in this space were developed by materials scientists like us,” Kaiser said. “We started to build relationships with physicians and medical professionals to ensure we weren’t working on this in a silo but were developing with them and integrating their feedback.”

Agrawal and Kaiser also learned about dangers that patients deal with in healing. For those with pressure or diabetic ulcers, which typically develop on feet, or have large surgical incisions, anti-infection care is critical. The mortality rate from these infections can be around 70%, which is higher than that of some forms of cancer, Kaiser said.

Revolutionary potential

Although they cannot yet share specifics about the technology, it’s clear Auxilium has an opportunity to revolutionize the wound care field.

Infection can occur when a protective layer called biofilm, which is a string of individual bacteria that band together, forms as a film on the surface of the wound. When biofilms begin to mature, they start to take the nutrients that the wound needs to heal, stalling the healing process and allowing infections to develop.

Treatment for infection has typically been reactive, with medication such as antibiotics that are started after the infection has taken hold. Some patients undergo a process called debridement, in which infected, diseased or dead tissue is removed with a scalpel or scissors. Depending on the severity of the wound, the process may have to be done surgically and can be painful. If the wound cannot heal, the patient may need tissue grafts or amputation.

Auxilium’s technology, however, is proactive and preventative.

The material that Agrawal started to develop in the UA lab, and that she continues to perfect today, seeks to prevent biofilm from growing in the first place. For wounds that are prone to develop infections, like surgical incisions, Auxilium’s platform material has a real-time indicator that lets a patient know of a potential ensuing infection. This allows patients to be seen by their medical team earlier, with the goal of treating the infection quickly and without a painful debridement procedure.

Today, material and treatment are expensive – some biologic dressings, which are made from materials derived from living organisms, can cost thousands of dollars per application, Agrawal said.

“We feel very passionately that we can do something. It really is a silent epidemic,” she said. “We want to help people, so we are scaling up quickly. And the [insurance guidelines] are changing rapidly.”

Investors are clearly excited about the technology. The company’s recent successful funding round was oversubscribed, which indicates heavy investor interest. If funding continues to come together, Auxilium hopes to have its product submitted for Food and Drug Administration approval in 2026 and a product on the market in 2027.

"We are grateful for the strong support from our investors and strategic partners across Ohio and throughout the country," Kaiser said. "This funding underscores confidence in our biomaterial platform and validates our proactive approach — developing breakthrough solutions that prevent and predict skin tissue infections. It positions us strongly to achieve critical milestones and accelerate growth in our next phase." 

Media contact: Cristine Boyd, media@uakron.edu  330-972-6476