MedArray

MedArray makes medical device membranes.

MedArray makes silicone into hollow fibers the width of a human hair. Its devices are used as artificial lungs, and can add or remove gas to liquids and other gas streams. Silicone used as a membrane has fantastic properties. It can transfer gas to or from a liquid without leaking--like human bodies do inside the lungs, where oxygen transfers into blood while carbon dioxide leaves the blood and is exhaled. Some researchers use silicone membranes to grow cells or medicines, others to prepare samples for analysis in sophisticated equipment. Since 2000, MedArray has been developing the technology with the support of the US National Institutes of Health, through a grant program that has provided $4M to the company. In 2009, MedArray began selling its membranes to companies and research centers commercially.