G. Chowdhry
3DBioFibR Inc,
Canada
Keywords: Collagen, Surgical Materials, Textiles, Protein Fiber
Summary:
3DBioFibR Inc. has developed a patent-issued dry-spinning technology, to produce collagen fibers (CollaFibR®) at over 3600x the scale of wet-spinning. Using extensional flow, dry-spinning drives alignment of the collagen molecules along the entire length of the collagen fibers, which can range from 0.1-100m. This alignment creates a molecular structure within CollaFibR® that closely mimics the naturally occurring hierarchical collagen fiber structure, as shown using x-ray diffraction. As a result, CollaFibR® drives strong cell attachment, alignment, and elongation, driving physiologically relevant tissue development and regeneration. In 2025, 3DBioFibR commissioned a first-in-world collagen continuous multifilament fiber system capable of producing fibers of indefinite lengths with the mechanical and structural properties required for textile processing. This continuous CollaFibR® capability provides a biological alternative to high molecular weight synthetic polymer fibers commonly used in surgical materials. Continuous CollaFibR® has tenacities on-par with common textile materials such as cotton, and strengths on-par with existing collagen sutures, subsequently presenting a novel material which is fully biological, load-bearing, and resorbable. Through a combination of physical and chemical crosslinking methods, 3DBioFibR can produce collagen yarns that have tunable degradability ranging from 2 weeks to 12 months as well as maintaining extensibility of over 20%, which is critical for textile processing and clinician handling. CollaFibR® is presently being used in the development of novel medical devices through a global partnering network. Examples include: 1. CollaFibR® braided structures used in tendon and ligament repair, where CollaFibR® can provide improved bio-integration in the tissue compared with collagen coated synthetic that are currently used. 2. CollaFibR® sutures which can maintain suture retention strength for 4-6 months longer than current resorbable options, without the regulatory complexity of decellularized tissue options. 3. CollaFibR® hernia meshes that are load-bearing for 6+ months but ultimately resorbable, overcoming the key challenges of currently used permanent synthetics, which commonly detach and migrate from the anchor site, causing damage to surrounding tissues and organs, increasing infection risk, and increasing the chances of hernia recurrence. 4. CollaFibR® peripheral nerve grafts, which have an inner surface of aligned collagen fibers that actively drive neuron migration and subsequent neurite formation, treating peripheral nerve injuries of >5cm, which is double the current treatable critical size defect. In addition to CollaFibR® for medical devices, 3DBioFibR’s dry-spinning technology is producing fibers from over 20 different biopolymers in commercial partnerships, including chitosan fibers for hemostatic wound care applications, spider silk fibers for military textiles used in infrared signal management, and hagfish intermediate filament protein fibers to replace Elastane® in spandex with a sustainable alternative. Dry-spinning’s unique combination of protein fiber quality with industrial scale is driving 3DBioFibR’s growing partnership pipeline across industries.