About us
Regeneration instead of surgery - The future of osteoarthritis therapy
We improve your quality of life, reduce pain, and treat osteoarthritis with a revolutionary therapy based on over 30 years of experience. Our innovative stem cell therapy, based on the MarrowX® method, focuses on regeneration instead of surgery and combines the latest scientific findings with cutting-edge technology.
Our interdisciplinary team brings together the best experts from various disciplines:
- Stem cell research.
- Orthopedics & orthopedic surgery
- Osteoarthritis research
- Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning (AI)
- Machine vision
- Cell Culture & Biotechnology
- Statistics & Data Analysis
- Physiotherapy & medical training therapy
Thanks to our international experience and close collaboration with leading universities at home and abroad, we are developing the most effective stem cell therapy against osteoarthritis with the MarrowX® method.
Diversity as a strength
Our team unites experts from diverse disciplines, cultures, and backgrounds. We value this diversity of perspectives, work interdisciplinarily, and embrace equal opportunities – with an above-average proportion of women in scientific and leadership positions. This lived diversity makes us more innovative, more creative, and stronger in our shared mission: shaping medical progress.
Executive Management Team
Christof is an orthopaedic surgeon, researcher and university lecturer with over XNUMX years of clinical and scientific experience. His work focuses on orthopaedics, regenerative medicine and degenerative joint disease, combining clinical practice with research and innovation in joint preservation. His work encompasses orthopaedics, stem-cell therapy and long-standing research in osteoarthritis treatment, forming the clinical and scientific foundation of MarrowX. His research group holds expert advisory status with the European Commission and with several national boards and ministries, and he has been involved in the drafting of legislation now in force, including the EU Medical Device Regulation (MDR), the Anti-Doping Act, the Telemedicine Act and the Tissue Safety Act. Christof leads the company’s corporate and clinical strategy, scientific direction and external relationships, drawing on his habilitation as well as his international management consulting experience at McKinsey and postgraduate training in economics in the United States.
Roland is an high tech engineer and physiotherapist specialising in orthopedics, trauma surgury and traumatology of musculoskeletal system, with extensive experience in medical-device technology and product development. His interdisciplinary background combines engineering expertise with a strong understanding of clinical practice and patient needs. Roland leads engineering, product development and technical strategy.
Max has an academic background in law and applied finance and is a senior financial services executive with over 25 years of international experience across Europe and Asia Pacific. He has held senior roles across investment banking and asset management with broad expertise in finance, risk management, business operations, governance and commercial development. Max is responsible for the financial management, business operations and governance , while contributing to the company’s commercial strategy and growth.
Paul is a biomedical engineer, hardware and software developer, and health-tech founder with extensive experience in medical-device development and regulatory compliance. His work bridges technical development and regulatory requirements, with particular expertise in the European Medical Device Regulation (MDR). Paul leads regulatory affairs and quality management, guiding the company’s medical-device technology through certification and market launch.
Zsofia is an experienced expert in strategic communication and business development, specializing in connecting innovative and impact-based solutions with customers. With an academic background and a proven track record in multinational communication, stakeholder engagement and market growth, she excels in translating complex concepts into clear, actionable strategies that drive business success.
Strategic Advisers
Frank is an international manufacturing and operations executive with over 30 years of experience across the automotive and aerospace industries, currently COO at RocketLab. He has held senior leadership roles in global manufacturing, industrialisation and scale-up. Frank provides strategic guidance industrialisation, manufacturing, scale-up and international operations.
Gunther has an academic background in software engineering and business. He is a technology entrepreneur with extensive experience in developing and scaling digital products. He is co-founder of iTranslate and founder of StepsApp, two globally successful consumer applications with more than 750 million users, both of which held the number one position in the Apple App Store and Google Play for extended periods. Gunther provides strategic guidance on digital strategy, data, applications and technology innovation.
Clinical and Technical Team
Specialist in Laboratory Medicine Priv.-Doz. Dr. med. Ingeborg Stelzer
Anaesthesiology Prof. Dr. Thomas Weber
Anaesthesiology Prof. Dr. Ernst Stubenvoll
Graduate Student/Medical Research Philip Schmid, medical student
Medical research Dr. med. Karl Retzl
Statistics Dr. Harald Lothaller
Product, Design and Digital
Industrial designer, 20+ years in 3D and CAD design. Formerly fuseproject, IDEO and IDEO.org in San Francisco; led the 3D development of the $100 Laptop (OLPC). Today co-founder and Design Director of SALZ Design, Graz, for clients such as Swarovski Optik, Festo and Rimac Automobili.
App Developer DI Boris Gutic
App Developer DI Miko Wohlgemuth
Operations and Support
Assistant Claudia Schuller
Research and Academic Collaboration
The ZMF is the university's central research infrastructure, providing core facilities for bioimaging, microscopy and flow cytometry, molecular biology and clinical trials, including a certified Phase I unit. This partnership gives our work access to state-of-the-art laboratory infrastructure and to an academic environment in which our clinical results are independently reviewed and scientifically documented.
Its body donation programme allows us to perform 3D measurements and volumetric analyses on anatomical specimens, to validate our findings under realistic anatomical conditions, and to develop and refine our guide before it reaches clinical use.
We are members of the International Cartilage Regeneration & Joint Preservation Society (ICRS), the leading global scientific society for cartilage repair and joint preservation, with over 1.000 members in more than 60 countries. Through the ICRS our protocols remain aligned with international standards, and our results are presented and discussed within the international scientific community.
Our clinical results are published annually in the world’s most reknown journals, such as the peer-reviewed journals of the Nature Portfolio, in particular Scientific Reports. Every study undergoes independent international peer review before publication, which means our outcomes are not self-reported claims but externally verified data, openly accessible to patients, physicians and researchers worldwide.
Company history
Since 1995, we have been working on osteoarthritis, injection techniques, 3D bone modeling, and the osteoarthritis market. Therefore, we have laid the relevant scientific foundations in these fields, and many of our ideas and methods have been adopted worldwide. Almost all of our work has been published peer-reviewed, but recently, many ideas have also been patented and protected, and are therefore only published with a delay.
2026: Medical device
We will receive CE certification for Europe and FDA approval for the Americas. This opens the market for approximately 2 billion people with osteoarthritis. Our product is better, cheaper, and easier to use. This means it can be used in both the first and third worlds.
2025: MarrowX - Method works
Consistently good results after 6 years, with only minimal loss of effectiveness between years 1 and 6. It seems reasonable to repeat the therapy in severe cases. Initial ideas about the mechanism of action and why conventional stem cell therapy was barely superior to PRP therapy are emerging. The design of the harvesting instrumentation has been finalized based on hundreds of pelvic CT scans.
2024: University of Berkeley Startup Contest
In 2024, we won first place in the startup contest at the University of Berkeley in the USA (Head: Prof. Dr. Gigi Wang)
2024: Stem cells versus PRP versus hyaluronic acid
We are publishing the first meta-analysis of current treatment methods for osteoarthritis worldwide in a top journal.
Founding of BM4Help ("Bone Marrow for Help") GmbH, patenting and trademarking of MarrowX (R) and BMAX (R) as methods. Highly successful international investors joined the company, increasing the research budget to a cumulative total of several million euros. Development of a proprietary medical device for bone marrow collection.
2023: MarrowX 4-Year Results
The high success rate of 80% across all patients and 93% across those without deformity confirms the sustainability of our development.
2022: Marrow X / Reorientation technique
Since the best way to harvest stem cells was previously unknown, we compared all the systems on the market and developed and patented our own method: MarrowX. This allows more cells to be harvested with less effort.
2021: Stem cell distribution
We published the normal distribution of stem cells in human bone, which was previously unknown: The number remains constant well into old age! We've also had good therapeutic success in autism. Stem cell therapy is now routinely performed.
2020: 3D injection technology
Our research group is developing a 3D technique for Morton's neuroma to improve needle positioning. We have invested €1.000.000 in research to date.
2018: Founding of IRM
The "Institute for Regenerative Medicine (IRM)" is the first Austrian hospital dedicated solely to the research and application of stem cell therapy. It has achieved international success through patients from Austria and abroad. A study has begun in cooperation with the Medical University of Graz.
2016: The new Medical Device Regulation
( Version Rev. 4 of MEDDEV 2.7.1) is published by the EU Commission as the result of years of work by our research group led by Gerold Labek. This regulation introduces much stricter regulations for medical devices used by patients, and registries are now mandatory. It has now been implemented into national law in all EU countries.
2015: Register
As quality assurance entities, prosthesis registries worldwide are mandatorily populated with real-life data based on the results of our research group (an initiative of the European Federation of Orthopaedic Surgeons (EFORT). This has revealed shockingly poor results for many knee and hip prostheses worldwide. The registry method has now become established worldwide.
2008: OPZ Graz
Own private orthopedic clinic founded, certified, and operating with a focus on joint wear.
2005: Regulatory
Our research group contributed to the new anti-doping law, which came into force in 2007. Since then, we have contributed to several laws (telemedicine, tissue safety law, etc.), including internationally, together with OECD and WHO.
2000: EBRA introduction
Our research group is also introducing EBRA in the largest hospital in the municipality of Vienna (Donauspital) and in the Herz Jesu Spital in Vienna, and shortly afterwards also at the University Hospital in Graz.
1995: EBRA: Single-Image X-ray Analysis
Doctoral thesis at the Medical University of Innsbruck: A three-dimensional method that predicts the durability of prostheses with high reliability. This method was made possible by a comparability algorithm and hundreds of stored pelvic bones. The method, developed by my doctoral supervisor, Martin Krismer, and Peter Mayerhofer, has since become established worldwide.
Publication also available as a PDF version .
