DIGIBEAM CORPORATION — Department of Defense SBIR Phase I: AF182-005

Description

Digibeam has developed a new manufacturing technology to additively print precision material. Commercial industry is loading medicine on precision nanocarriers to delivery highly effective medicines as a new form of drug delivery. One of the primary limitations of nanomedicine is controlling the uniformity of load & release mechanisms and drug purity. Digibeam will explore nano drug printing as a Defense-Related Dual-Purpose Technology that may be useful to the US Air Force. Burn patients are one of the leading causes of death in US Military operations. It was found that bacteremia, especially with a multidrug-resistant organism, causes increased mortality in burn patients. Logistic regression revealed that an infection with extended-spectrum beta-lactamase (ESBL) producing K pneumonia during the hospital stay was the factor most predictive of death, with a nearly 4-fold increased odds of dying. New studies have shown that Zinc Oxide (ZnO) nanoparticles can be used to combat ESBLs. Digibeam has developed an additive manufacturing technology to print precision combinatorial material directly related to commercial studies using innovative printing technology. This proposal is to explore Defense-Related Dual-Purpose using 3D Printed nanomedicine to address bacteremia that causes increased mortality.