SBIR Phase I: Immunity Transfer by Magnetic Separation (COVID-19)

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The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project addresses the COVID-19 global pandemic. Recently, transfusions of plasma from recovered COVID-19 patients has shown some efficacy in treatment. This is due to antibodies in the donor plasma that recognize the SARS-CoV-2 virus, boosting the recipient’s immune system to better fight COVID-19. By mixing donor plasma with magnetic particles coated with molecules that can capture these therapeutic antibodies, we will magnetically extract, purify and concentrate these antibodies for use in COVID-19 treatment. This technology can potentially be extended to other diseases as well. This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes to develop chemical conjugation strategies and novel magnet arrays capable of isolating large amounts of therapeutic antibody from each unit of plasma. This strategy introduces the potential to harvest large amounts of therapeutic SARS-CoV-2 antibodies from a single recovered COVID-19 patient, enabling treatment of multiple patients from the plasma of one convalescent patient. The antibody-depleted plasma can be returned to the donor, enabling multiple plasma donations without the requirement of permanently removing plasma from the donor. In addition, access to purified antibodies should enable scaling of the therapeutic dose, potentially conferring longer immunity or inducing a more robust immune response in the patient.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.