HOUGHTON – Although her start-up company isn’t physically in any of the Michigan Tech Enterprise Corporation SmartZone buildings, Megan Frost appreciates the help she gets from the organization as a virtual client.

Frost, who is an associate professor of biomedical engineering at Michigan Technological University, said her company, FM Research Management, LLC, which she formed with business partner Jeff Millin in July 2013, is developing a self-sterilizing polymer for preventing infections at catheter sites. Catheters can be used for many functions, including draining fluids from a body, or for supplying medications.

“We’re primarily targeting catheter fixation (for IVs), right now,” she said.

The device is a thin material placed at the site of a wound, such as would be created by an IV.

What she is working on is an update on a technology that has been around since the 1950s, Frost said.

“We’re making it out of a better material,” she said.

Frost said there are many anti-microbial film dressings, but they have limitations of effectiveness, such as using expensive materials or using a drug to which about 10 percent of the population are allergic.

“In specific circumstances, you can go into anaphylactic shock,” she said.

Anaphylactic shock can lead to labored breathing, loss of consciousness, low blood pressure, heart failure, and even death.

In testing, Frost said her material has proved effective against four types of bacteria. She will be submitting her device to the the Food and Drug Administration for the approval process to put it on the market.

“Once the application is submitted, we’re looking 180-plus days,” she said.

Frost said being a virtual client of the SmartZone has been beneficial for her.

“Because I know nothing about business, I got involved with the SmartZone,” she said. “I have a very deep understanding of technology. I have virtually no understanding of how to take that technology to market.”

The SmartZone hired a consulting firm called BioNavigators in Marquette, which Frost said helped her understand how viability of getting her product to market.

“That was the first analysis to say, ‘could this be a real business opportunity,'” she said.

The SmartZone also introduced her to people who helped her understand how to run a medical-devices business, Frost said.

Her business headquarters are in Trenary, Frost said, and if she gets approval for her device, she would like to get the business going locally.

“My intention is to have a research facility in Hancock,” she said.

Frost said she thinks the Hancock/Houghton area could be developed as a center for biomedical and life sciences companies.

“The lifestyle and environment here will spawn creativity,” she said. “There are a lot of people who have the skills and talent that would love to live here if there were jobs here.”