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This is a broad portfolio that includes all aspects of life sciences. Some of the representative areas are bioengineering (brain computer interface, chips to grow and monitor cellular activities, and bioprinting), vaccines and therapeutics (nanolipoprotein particles for the delivery of vaccines and drugs, carbon nanotubes for drug delivery, KRAS inhibitors, and anti-bacterial minerals), medical diagnostics (molecular diagnostics, point-of-care testing, imaging, and forensic), life science instrumentation (PCR instruments, rapid PCR, fluid partitioning, microfluidics, and biosensors), and methods for the extraction and purification of rare earth elements using lanmodulin and other natural/synthetic bacterial proteins.

Portfolio News and Multimedia

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Innovation and Partnerships Office employee wins second national award

Following a Federal Laboratory Consortium (FLC) award win in April, Lawrence Livermore National Lab (LLNL) has received its second national recognition for collaborations surrounding the biomedical technology called nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs).

Yash Vaishnav, a business development executive within the Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO), was recognized by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) Technology Transfer Working Group (TTWG) at its Spring Meeting, May 14-15, in Washington, D.C., for his work in negotiating the licensing agreement for LLNL’s NLP technology to EVOQ Therapeutics (EVOQ) — winning TTWG’s “Best in Class” award for licensing.

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LLNL and BridgeBio announce trials for supercomputing-discovered cancer drug

In a substantial milestone for supercomputing-aided drug design, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) and BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics (BridgeBio) today announced clinical trials have begun for a first-in-class medication that targets specific genetic mutations implicated in many types of cancer.

LLNL Innovation and Partnerships Office (IPO) Business Development Executive Yash Vaishnav negotiated the CRADA with BridgeBio subsidiary Theras, as well as the license agreement for the drug candidate with BridgeBio Oncology Therapeutics. Vaishnav also manages the intellectual property portfolio of KRAS inhibitors developed under the CRADA and the relationship with his counterparts at BridgeBio. 

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A-Alpha Awarded Additional $14.5M from the DOD to Accelerate Antibody Discovery and Optimization for Likely Biothreats

Funding from the Joint Program Executive Office for Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Nuclear Defense (JPEO-CBRND) will expand A-Alpha's partnership with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL) in support of the Generative Unconstrained Intelligent Drug Engineering (GUIDE) program. This announcement follows two years of successful collaboration between A-Alpha and LLNL – beginning with coronaviruses and expanding to multiple undisclosed pathogen families of concern – in which A-Alpha’s AlphaSeq data has been used to train ML models that predict antibody-antigen binding. 

To learn more, see today’s press release here and coverage in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News.

Life Sciences, Biotech, and Healthcare Technologies

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Stock image of brain and electronic interface

LLNL researchers have designed and developed a novel high-density, high-channel count 3D connector that enables hundreds or thousands of nonpermanent connections within a compact footprint. The connector addresses limitations of currently used conventional approaches that were described previously, which have an artificial ceiling on the number of recording sites of modern devices of no more…

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Novel Protein-based Method for REE Separation

As an important step toward overcoming the technical and environmental limitations of current REE processing methods, the LLNL team has patented and demonstrated a biobased, all-aqueous REE extraction and separation scheme using the REE-selective lanmodulin protein. Lanmodulin can be fixed onto porous support materials using thiol-maleimide chemistry, which can enable tandem REE purification…

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REE and actinide aqueous samples, pictured under UV light

LLNL researchers have discovered that some inexpensive and commercially available molecules used for other applications, could render certain lanthanide and actinide elements highly fluorescent. These molecules are not sold for applications involving the detection of REEs and actinides via fluorescence. They are instead used as additives in cosmetic products and/or in the pharmaceutical…

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Schematic of high density detachable electrical interfaces with a single layer

Many of the disadvantages of current interface devices can be overcome with LLNL’s novel interface design, which relies on area array distribution where independent interface connector subassemblies are positioned in a planar grid.  Not only is the interface device expandable area-wise (without increasing contact force), but it could also be expanded height-wise, with multiple layers of…

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3D MEA device prior to actuation. A) A completed device. B) Close-up image of a single cell culture well. The large dark metal features at the top and bottom of each cell culture well are ground electrodes, which are all electrically shorted to each other. C) Light micrograph of a single 3DMEA post-actuation. The hinge regions are plastically deformed and allow the probes to stand upright without additional supports.

To replicate the physiology and functionality of tissues and organs, LLNL has developed an in vitro device that contains 3D MEAs made from flexible polymeric probes with multiple electrodes along the body of each probe. At the end of each probe body is a specially designed hinge that allows the probe to transition from lying flat to a more upright position when actuated and then…

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Immunoproteomic workflow to identify antigenic peptides.

LLNL’s high throughput method involves proteome-wide screening for linear B-cell epitopes using native proteomes isolated from a pathogen of interest and convalescent sera from immunized animals.

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Flexible optoelectronic chip with integrated transmitter and receiver subassemblies

Commercial fiber optic cables are the current standard for carrying optical signals in industries like communications or medical devices. However, the fibers are made of glass, which do not have favorable characteristics for applications that require flexibility and re-routing, e.g. typically brittle, limited selection of materials, dimension constraints.

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iChip, brain on a chip

LLNL has developed a brain-on-a-chip system with a removable cell-seeding funnel to simultaneously localize neurons from various brain regions in an anatomically relevant manner and over specific electrode regions of a MEA. LLNL’s novel, removable cell seeding funnel uses a combination of 3D printing and microfabrication that allows neurons from select brain regions to easily be seeded into…

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nanolipoprotein particles

LLNL has developed a novel process of production, isolation, characterization, and functional re-constitution of membrane-associated proteins in a single step. In addition, LLNL has developed a colorimetric assay that indicates production, correct folding, and incorporation of bR into soluble nanolipoprotein particles (NLPs).

LLNL has developed an approach, for formation of NLP/…