When a salamander loses a limb, it grows back as good as new. But when humans tear a rotator cuff, they receive scar tissue and often diminished capabilities.
Dr. Michael Francis wants to change that.
“As humans, we evolutionarily lost the ability to regenerate; our default is fibrosis, or scarring,” said Dr. Francis, PhD, an associate professor in the Department of Orthopaedics & Sports Medicine at the USF Health Morsani College of Medicine and CEO of Asante Bio. “Simply put, if we get hurt or as we age, our tissue doesn’t heal very well.”
Dr. Michael Francis in his laboratory.
Dr. Francis has spent his career bridging that gap and holds numerous patents for medical implants that help patients rebuild torn rotator cuffs, damaged ACLs and injured tendons.
His breakthrough ideas come from unlikely places.
“Inspiration is fun; it’s not something you ever set out to do,” Dr. Francis said. “Usually, you don’t find it. It finds you.”
Nature has been one source of inspiration. He has studied spider webs under a scanning electron microscope, fascinated by how spiders use microfluidics (tiny channels less than a millimeter wide), coaxial flow and biochemistry to produce silk filaments that are, by weight, stronger than steel. That research led to innovations using collagen, a protein naturally found in human tissue, to create implants that help the body regenerate rather than scar.
“Regeneration is the ideal,” Dr. Francis said. “That’s what we move towards. Regeneration is what I and many others in the field are striving to achieve.”
In addition to nature, his personal hobbies sparked some of his most significant breakthroughs. A self-described tinkerer, Dr. Francis has built and restored dozens of classic cars. While mountain biking one day, he wondered how carbon fiber bicycle frames were made. The answer turned out to be multi-axial filament winding, an industrial manufacturing process used to make helicopter blades.
Dr. Francis saw potential to adapt this technology for medical implants in humans. He replaced industrial materials like Kevlar and epoxy with biopolymers — materials the body can absorb and integrate — creating implants woven in elaborate arrays that mimic native ligaments and tendons in knees and rotator cuffs. One of his inventions marks the first time collagen has been used to create materials like this and scaled for human clinical use.
This implant mimics the body's natural tendons and ligaments.
The implants match or exceed native tissue strength immediately after surgery, potentially speeding recovery time.
“Day one right at surgery, the patient is restored to pre-injury biomechanical strength,” Dr. Francis added.
His wife, Anna Bulysheva, PhD, an assistant professor in the Department of Medical Engineering at USF, has watched his approach to invention produce results. His method is rooted in integrity, redesigning and reevaluating based on data rather than pushing for the results he wants to see.
“Michael’s brain works in a very different way from other people, so he’s always coming up with new ideas, new inventions, and he’s always kind of looking at things from a different point of view,” Dr. Bulysheva said.
It was Florida’s supportive research environment and business climate that drew the couple and their two children to the University of South Florida. The state’s commitment to biomanufacturing aligned with Dr. Francis’ work, while Dr. Bulysheva’s gene therapy research found a home in medical engineering.
“Florida is fantastic for medicine, biomedical research and orthopedics,” Dr. Francis said.
At a ceremony on Oct. 31, Dr. Francis was inducted into the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame, a group he encounters often during his daily work. The Hall of Fame display sits in the USF Connect building where he works, showcasing the achievements of Florida inventors he calls heroes.
Dr. Charles Lockwood
“I am so impressed by the groundbreaking nature of Dr. Michael Francis’ many innovations in orthopedics, ”said Charles J. Lockwood, MD, MHCM, executive vice president of USF Health and dean of the Morsani College of Medicine. “He has approached orthopedic injuries that are unfortunately common with novel materials — bioengineered implants and regenerative biomaterials — that have significantly improved the treatment possibilities, and ultimately the quality of life, for legions of patients. I am so pleased to see his transformative work recognized by the Florida Inventors Hall of Fame.”
Among that esteemed group is an inventor whom he finds particularly inspiring: Hedy Lamarr, an engineer and actress whose World War II-era frequency-hopping technology became the foundation for WiFi, Bluetooth and GPS. For Dr. Francis, being inducted alongside her and other innovators is deeply humbling.
“She is, I think, one of the greatest inventors of our lifetimes,” Dr. Francis said. “It’s quite an honor to be in that same company. It’s also amazing that so many great inventors have been in and part of Florida."
