A new tool to help patients with chronic lung diseases, being studied at the University of Iowa (UI) College of Engineering, has received a $2.55 million in funding from the National Institutes of Health Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) program.

Suresh Raghavan, professor of biomedical engineering, and Syed Mubeen, associate professor of chemical and biochemical engineering, are researching a portable oxygen concentrator (POC) that uses an electrochemical process to generate 100% pure oxygen with ambient air as its input.

Preliminary testing suggests the device would overcome many of the shortfalls of available POCs, such as limited oxygen flow, excessive weight, inconsistent oxygen purity, and noise. If successful, the project could revolutionize long-term oxygen therapy for over 1.5 million Americans suffering from conditions such as COPD, interstitial lung disease, and pulmonary hypertension.

The SBIR program funds R&D collaborations between small businesses and U.S. research institutions. In this case, Pranions, Inc.—a medical device startup spun out of Raghavan and Mubeen’s UI research labs–is the project lead.

Austin McKee, director of technology, is the principal investigator for Pranions, which is located in the UI’s Translational Research Incubator in Iowa City. McKee (17BSE, 22PHD) worked with Raghavan and Mubeen and co-invented this device. McKee is also scheduled to begin as a part-time instructional faculty member in the UI Department of Chemical and Biochemical Engineering this fall.

Raghavan and Mubeen are both faculty affiliates of the Iowa Technology Institute, a research arm of the College of Engineering. The project has also been supported by UI Ventures and the UI Research Foundation.

Under a $1 million subcontract of the grant, the UI team will build and test a full-scale prototype to validate performance and safety, paving the way for commercialization that could result in substantial improvements in the quality of care for patients suffering from chronic lung diseases.

This technology builds upon, with some variation, an oxygen concentrator Mubeen, McKee, and Raghavan developed in response to ventilator shortages during the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This is the logical next step from our recently concluded R01 project, where we developed and patented the core technology,” Raghavan said. “We’re excited to bring this innovation closer to lung patients worldwide.”

The NIH grant review panel gave the proposal a stellar impact score, signaling strong confidence in the project’s potential.  

The UI team also includes Lakshmi Durairaj, associate professor of internal medicine and pulmonology section chief, and Patrick O’Shaughnessy, professor of occupational and environmental health.