Hybrid Plastics technology used in pioneering procedure

HATTIESBURG — Medical history was made in recently with the world’s first synthetic organ transplant, according to Hattiesburg-based Hybrid Plastics.

A terminally ill cancer patient received a new lease on life with the transplant of a synthetic trachea made from a POSS nanocomposite polymer.

The composite made from POSS and PCU (Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane & Poly (carbonate- urea) Urethane) had been developed by Dr. Alex Seifalian of the University College London Medical  School.  The effort has been so effective that Seifalian says he now has six more tracheas on order.

Hybrid has developed a platform technology called POSS (Polyhedral Oligomeric Silsesquioxane). It is a new nanotechnology based on silicon-derived building blocks that provide nanometer- scale control to improve the properties of traditional polymers. They release no VOCs and, thereby, produce no odor or air pollution.  They are biocompatible and recyclable.