I-Corps: Time-Dependent Protein Response Platform

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this I-Corps project is the development of novel therapeutics for the treatment of respiratory disease. For example, a significant percentage of pre-term babies are unable to produce lung surfactant. This biological material, which contains lipid and specialized proteins, significantly increases the ability of the lung to expand and contract. It also enhances the transfer of oxygen to blood. Insufficient levels of lung surfactant results in neonatal respiratory distress syndrome (NRDS), a condition that is fatal in a significant number of cases. The current standard of care is a purified extract obtained from pig lung. The purification process used to obtain this product is demanding, resulting in a final product that varies significantly in protein and lipid content. For this reason, there is significant interest in the development of novel synthetic lung surfactants. However, chemically-designed lung surfactants that have been developed to date are no longer used because of low biological potency. In addition to its therapeutic utility, a potent, concentrated lung surfactant may also be useful in treating babies with less severe forms of this disease and may be useful in the treatment of adult diseases such as adult respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) and chronic obstructive pulmonary disorder (COPD). This I-Corps project is to commercialize a scalable, fully active synthetic lung surfactant for use in the treatment of neonatal and adult respiratory disorders. The approach is unique since computational models of lung surfactants are being used to identify key structural features that are required for biological activity and manufacturability. The project's hypothesis is that this synthetic lung surfactant can be successfully commercialized at reasonable cost. In addition, we hypothesize that the knowledge gained can be leveraged to develop other biotherapeutics requring interaction between bioactive proteins and lipid. We will use the lean startup method to perform customer interviews that assess the commercial viability of a novel synthetic lung surfactant.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.