Raydiance Inc., an ultrashort-pulse (USP) laser startup founded by Internet entrepreneur and former AOL chief executive Barry Schuler, announced today it will collaborate with Rutgers University and the Musculoskeletal Transplant Foundation (MTF) "to improve the science of dermal tissue processing" for use in skin grafts and donated-tissue transplants. The MTF will be the project sponsor, Rutgers will be the center for developing tissue processing methods, and Raydiance will provide the technology. Raydiance said the team will work to provide more advanced technology that results in less expensive and faster solutions for those in need of skin transplants for burn, complicated hernia repair and reconstructive procedures. In what the company said it a first-of-its-kind test, tissue engineers will use a new type of laser developed on the Raydiance USP aser platform to maximize the transplants processed from donated dermal tissue. The collaboration will also explore new ways to use the laser, "which can instantly vaporize material without heat or residual damage at very precise scales, down to a resolution of several microns," Raydiance said in a statement. Raydiance said the team will initially focus on using the USP laser to develop noninvasive laser-ablation methods to separate the skin's dermal and epidermal layers to increase the viability of donor tissues; nonintrusive sterilization techniques on donor skin and tendons to minimize collateral tissue damage while removing viral or bacterial contamination; and a method to remove hair from donor tissue with minimal damage. Principal investigator Zhixiong (James) Guo, PhD, an associate professor of mechanical and aerospace engineering at Rutgers, said, "The Raydiance laser platform is one hundred times more powerful than anything I have ever used before. Not only can it separate skin more precisely and effectively, but also it has the unique capability to decontaminate the surface of soft tissue. If our tests prove successful, we will be able to disrupt and reinvent dermal tissue processing as we know it. This is great news for burn victims as well as those suffering from cancer, degenerative joint disease, arthritis and other skin trauma." Bruce Stroever, President and CEO of MTF, said "More 900,000 Americans receive tissue transplants each year, but many more are in need. Preparing human tissue grafts is a complex and meticulous process. An important part of our mission is the ability to maximize the number and type of transplanted tissues processed from the gift of donation. We believe the Raydiance technology has the potential to process human tissue much more efficiently, increasing the supply of scarce dermal tissues. This would result in more usable tissue, offering the benefit of better outcomes for more patients." For more information, visit: raydiance-inc.com