Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024 - 40

Health & Biotech
A new low-cost ventilator design invented during COVID-19 could address the global shortage of
ventilators for other respiratory diseases. (Image: Thomas Angus)
which must be carried out under special
regulatory conditions. To do this, they
have launched a startup, known as
Phaedrus World Medical Limited alongside
two experienced med-tech entrepreneurs.
They are currently seeking investment
to turn their designs into
useable ventilators.
Liz Hughes, CEO of Phaedrus World
Medical Limited, said, " RELAVENT has
the potential to save many lives. This
has only been made possible by the efforts
of the amazing Imperial engineering
team alongside clinical input from
our medical advisor who has first-hand
experience in our target markets. "
Co-author Dr. Jakob Mathiszig-Lee,
of Imperial's department of surgery
and cancer, said, " In the UK we suffered
a shortage of mechanical ventilaMore
Powerful RNA Vaccines
If further developed for use in humans, this type of RNA vaccine could help to reduce costs,
the dosage needed, and potentially lead to longer-lasting immunity.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Cambridge, MA
M
IT researchers have engineered
both the nanoparticles used to
deliver the COVID-19 antigen and the
antigen itself, to boost the immune
response, without the need for a separate
adjuvant.
If further developed for use in humans,
this type of RNA vaccine could
help to reduce costs, the dosage needed,
and potentially lead to longer-lasting
immunity. The researchers' tests
also showed that when delivered intranasally,
the vaccine induced a strong
immune response when compared to
the response elicited by traditional, intramuscular
vaccination.
" With intranasal vaccination, you
might be able to kill COVID at the
mucus membrane, before it gets into
40
your body, " said Professor and Senior
Author Daniel Anderson. " Intranasal
vaccines may also be easier to administer
to many people, since they don't
require an injection. "
The researchers believe that the effectiveness
of other types of RNA vaccines
that are now in development, including
vaccines for cancer, could be improved
by incorporating similar immune-stimulating
properties.
In this study, the researchers employed
two different strategies to boost
the immune response. For the first,
they focused on a protein called C3d,
which is part of an arm of the immune
response known as the complement system.
This set of proteins helps the body
fight off infection, and C3d's role is to
www.techbriefs.com
bind to antigens and amplify the antibody
response to those antigens.
The researchers engineered the mRNA
to encode the C3d protein fused to the
antigen, so that both components are
produced as one protein by cells that receive
the vaccine.
In the second phase of their strategy,
the researchers modified the lipid
nanoparticles used to deliver the RNA
vaccine, so that in addition to helping
with RNA delivery, the lipids also
intrinsically stimulate a stronger immune
response.
To identify lipids that would work
best, the researchers created a library
of 480 lipid nanoparticles with different
types of chemistries. All of these
are " ionizable " lipids, which become
Tech Briefs, February 2024
tors to treat our sickest COVID-19 patients,
but such a shortage of reliable
mechanical ventilation is the norm in
much of the world. In LMICs and NEEs
other respiratory diseases such as tuberculosis,
pneumonia, and influenza
result in more deaths every year than
COVID-19. "
Dr. van Batenburg-Sherwood added,
" Our ventilators are inspired by the
beauty of simplicity. Rather than using
the complex control valves used in most
ventilators, we conceived a way to use
simple on-off valves to provide the
high-level performance required of ICU
ventilators. This way, we have made the
technology much cheaper and less expensive
to make and maintain. "
Co-author Professor James Moore,
Director of Translation for Imperial's
department of bioengineering, said,
" We are keen to bring our ventilator to
as many hospitals as possible to combat
serious respiratory diseases worldwide.
We have the right technology to help
address this unmet medical need and
hope to attract investment to help take
it further. "
This work was funded by Royal Academy
of Engineering and Imperial College
COVID-19 Response Fund.
For more information, contact Caroline
Brogan at caroline.brogan@imperial.ac.uk;
+44 020-7594-3415.

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Tech Briefs Magazine - February 2024

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