Book of Abstracts: 20 January 2014 Paliwanagan sa UP Diliman | Page 12

A 20-YEAR CASE STUDY ON MICROBIAL CELLULOSE
TECHNOLOGY UTILIZATION AND COMMERCIALIZATION
Gonzalo C. Serafica
The presentation is about the author's personal perspective on technology
commercialization based on his 20-year experience starting as a graduate
student at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (Troy, NY, USA) to co-founder of a
microbial cellulose company, Xylos Corporation (Langhorne, PA, USA). The
various roles of the scientific/technical founder may play as the company
evolves and utilizes its technology will be described. Activities in various
areas including product development, regulatory compliance, intellectual
property expansion, manufacturing and marketing that contributed to the
commercialization of the company’s products will be described briefly. In
conclusion, a method of analysis (i.e. TRIM) to be used as a guide for decisionmaking in commercializing a technology (such as microbial cellulose) will be
proposed.

SPECIAL SESSION
A 20-year Case Study
on Microbial Cellulose Technology
Utilization and Commercialization

About the Presenter
Gonzalo “Al” C. Serafica received his Doctorate of Chemical Engineering degree
from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute (RPI) in Troy, New York and has over 20
years of extensive experience in technology utilization and commercialization.
During his academic career with RPI and his stint at Xylos Corporation, his
research focused on production optimization and product development of
microbial cellulose. Dr. Serafica co-founded Xylos in 1996 and served as its
Vice President for Intellectual Property and Technology until 2012. Xylos is a
venture capital-backed company that has spent more than $25 million in
developing various microbial cellulose-derived medical devices. The company’s
products include seven (7) U.S. FDA cleared products, ranging from permanent
implants as brain patch or dural substitute, to soft tissue replacements and
adhesion barriers, and artificial skin or advanced wound dressings for treating
chronic wounds.
Dr. Serafica has authored several publications on microbial cellulose
technology and its product development, and holds ten (10) U.S. granted
patents and twenty (20) international granted patents. In addition to presenting
his work at numerous technical conferences including the American Chemical
Society (ACS) and the Biotechnology Division of the American Society of
Chemical Engineers (AIChE), Dr. Serafica has also given oral and poster
presentations at several wound healing conferences including the Symposium
for Advanced Wound Care (SAWC) and Wound Healing: Science and Industry.
Dr. Serafica was the principal investigator of the National Institute of HealthSmall Business Innovative Research (NIH-SBIR) grant awarded to Xylos in
1997 to develop the biosynthesized cellulose wound dressing.

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