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In space there are a limited number of care providers, and those providers are not always clinicians with extensive medical training. Space travel also has limited room to provide care and limited consumables. The Human-Powered Ventilator is compact, portable, and easy to assemble. It is designed so that users can implement hand and arm movements to pump the bellows between two hinged, clamshell-like panels back and forth to provide positive pressure ventilation to the patient. A light spring is incorporated into the design to assist in expanding the bellows, drawing air out of the patient’s lungs, and reducing the physical load on the operator without compromising the tactile feel necessary for proper usage. The airflow can be supplemented with prescribed medical vapors, oxygen, etc. via standard industry fittings. The Human-Powered Ventilator is TRL 6 (system/subsystem prototype has been demonstrated in a relevant environment) and it is now available for your company to license. Please note that NASA does not manufacture products itself for commercial sale.

In vitro three-dimensional (3D) human broncho-epithelial (HBE) tissue-like assemblies (3D HBE TLAs or TLAs) were engineered in modeled microgravity using rotating wall vessel technology (pictured above) to mimic the characteristics of in vivo tissue. The TLAs were bioengineered onto collagen-coated cyclodextran beads using primary human mesenchymal bronchial-tracheal cells (HBTC) as the foundation matrix and an adult human broncho-epithelial immortalized cell line (BEAS-2B) as the overlying component. The resulting TLAs share significant characteristics with in vivo human respiratory epithelium including polarization, tight junctions, desmosomes, and microvilli. The presence of tissue-like differentiation markers including villi, keratins, and specific lung epithelium markers, as well as the production of tissue mucin, further confirm these TLAs have differentiated into tissues functionally like in vivo tissues. TLAs mimic aspects of the human respiratory epithelium and provide a unique capability to study the interactions of respiratory viruses and their primary target tissue independent of the host's immune system. The innovation "Methods For Growing Tissue-Like 3D Assemblies Of Human Broncho-Epithelial Cells" is at Technology Readiness Level (TRL) 6 (which means system/subsystem prototype demonstration in a relevant environment) and the related patent is now available to license for development into a commercial product. Please note that NASA does not manufacture products itself for commercial sale.