BOSTON, June 28 /PRNewswire/ -- TEI Biosciences Inc. announces with deep sadness the passing of its Founder, Dr. Eugene Bell, on Friday June 22, 2007. Dr. Bell was 88.
Dr. Bell was a graduate of New York University with advanced degrees from the University of Rhode Island and Brown University. He began his academic career at MIT in 1956 and became Professor of Biology in 1967. Dr. Bell founded TEI in 1991 and was most recently its Chief Science Officer and a member of its Board of Directors. He continued his pioneering research in the field of regenerative medicine right up to the day of his death.
Dr. Bell was known widely as the "father of Tissue Engineering". The field of Tissue Engineering had its origins in Dr. Bell's MIT lab. His article titled "Living Tissue Formed In-Vitro and Accepted as Skin-equivalent Tissue of Full Thickness" published in Science (211: 1052-1054, 1981) was the pioneering and defining work in this field. Dr. Bell was the holder of over 40 US and foreign patents and the chief author of over 200 scientific papers. In 2003, he was awarded the Biotechnology Achievement of the Year Award from the New York University School of Medicine.
TEI's family of novel soft tissue repair products -- SurgiMend(TM), PriMatrix(TM), CosMatrix(TM), OrthoMend(TM), Durepair(R), Xenform(TM), and TissueMend(R) -- are based on Dr. Bell's innovations in collagen bioscaffolds. The technology enables the conversion of animal tissues into highly biocompatible, non immunogenic, acellular collagen devices without altering the native properties of the source collagen. These devices, marketed by TEI directly and by its partners Medtronic, Boston Scientific, and Stryker, are now in routine clinical use throughout the world where surgeons utilize them to repair, reinforce, or regenerate a patient's injured or diseased tissues.
Dr. Bell's most recent scientific research focused on the pluripotency of a subset of adult stem cells.
TEI's Chairman, President and CEO, Dr. Yiannis Monovoukas, said, "Gene was more than a brilliant scientist and a pioneer. He was a personal friend and advisor, and he will be missed by all. Our highly talented scientists and researchers will continue and expand upon Dr. Bell's work. We remain committed to his vision of inventing, developing, and manufacturing the finest products in our field."
Boston-based TEI Biosciences Inc. is a private biomedical Company leading the way in the development, manufacturing, and marketing of novel biomedical devices for the repair or replacement of failed human tissues and organs.
TEI Biosciences Inc.CONTACT: Joni Hendrixson for TEI Biosciences Inc., +1-617-268-1616
Web site: http://www.teibio.com/
