A tissue engineering technique that someday could help people with facial disfigurement has earned top honors for business innovation.

Michael Stosich, the third-year Temple dental student featured in the Sept. 13 issue of the Temple Times for his research into tissue reconstruction, won the grand prize at the Temple Innovative Idea Competition Award Dinner, sponsored by Temple’s Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute, in October. The competition received more than 90 entries from nine different Temple schools and colleges.

Stosich is studying the use of a person’s own genes to cultivate soft tissue for use in corrective facial surgery for disfigurements and accidental trauma.

Repairing damaged soft tissue like that of the face is challenging. Up to 70 percent of the soft tissue grafts currently used in plastic and reconstructive surgery can’t hold the original contour and get absorbed by the body. This technique would be preferable to current options, which include prostheses and numerous surgeries, because it makes for a more natural appearance.

“This winning idea from the Dental School is representative of the creative and highly commercial ideas we receive annually from throughout Temple’s schools and college and its various campuses,” said Chris Pavlides, executive director of the Innovation and Entrepreneurship Institute at the Fox School of Business.