CWRU alum’s biotech startup featured for work to improve wound healing

Asclepii, a biotech startup founded by Case Western Reserve University alum Franco Kraiselburd (CWR ’24)—and currently based in CWRU’s 11000 Cedar Startup Incubator—was recently featured on cleveland.com for its work developing technologies to improve care for chronic wounds.

Kraiselburd founded Asclepii in 2022 while studying biomedical engineering at CWRU and began building the company through the university’s entrepreneurship ecosystem, including the Veale Institute for Entrepreneurship and the Morgenthaler-Pavey Startup Competition (MPSC). 

The MPSC competition was one of Asclepii’s earliest proving grounds: Kraiselburd first pitched there in 2023, later returned to win the Venture Track and this year helped review applications—an arc that reflects the kind of founder development the Veale Institute and CWRU aims to support across campus.

A startup takes shape

Today, Asclepii has grown into a biotech company with four full-time and 20 part-time staff, lab space in CWRU’s Millis Hall and about $3.5 million in funding.

Asclepii’s focus is chronic wound care, where difficult-to-heal wounds can lead to life-threatening complications.

Its lead product, Poseidon, is a gel containing tiny particles of antibacterial silver. Its designed to help hard-to-close wounds heal while using less silver than similar products, an approach the company says could make treatment safer and more affordable.

Asclepii also is developing Artemis, a wound dressing invented by Kraiselburd that is awaiting FDA clearance. 

The dressing is designed to provide a scaffold that encourages tissue growth and reduces scarring, and the company recently announced a partnership with Cleveland product development firm Nottingham Spirk to help scale production of the technology.

“In my case, I was stubborn,” Kraiselburd told cleveland.com. “It took me 10 years of research before I raised my first [significant funding]. It was the equivalent to rubbing my face against the concrete, but I have no regrets.”