You might not think of the vast and fascinating expanse of space as a manufacturing site. But his LambdaVision, a UConn TIP startup, has managed to manufacture its technology in the microgravity environment of the International Space Station (ISS).
LambdaVision has collaborated with ISS, NASA, and Space Tango to investigate how microgravity can improve the manufacturing process of protein-based artificial retinas.
LambdaVision’s technology contains 200 layers of bacteriorhodopsin in a mesh scaffold that can be placed behind the eyes of patients suffering from blindness due to age-related macular degeneration (AMD) or retinitis pigmentosa (RP) using conventional surgical procedures. Can be embedded using disposition.
Importantly, the technique is most effective when all layers applied one at a time during the manufacturing process are perfectly uniform.
Normal gravity on Earth can cause particles to settle and liquids to evaporate, increasing the imperfections and instability of artificial retinas. However, in the microgravity environment, the molecules are evenly distributed, so the solution is completely homogeneous.
To date, LambdaVision has sent its technology into space five times using implementation partner Space Tango’s CubeLabs. Their first launch took place on SpaceX 16 in December 2018. The latest took place on SpaceX Crew-4 in April 2022.
LambdaVision developed and validated microgravity manufacturing methods through these missions and successfully produced a 200-layer film on the ISS.
LambdaVision recently acquired samples from a modern microgravity experiment for analysis. Initial analysis of the films shows that they are more uniform than the terrestrial-manufactured controls. Further evaluation of these films is in progress.
One of the main advantages of the microgravity fabrication approach is that only one side of the implant is coated. Single-sided coating is required for the performance of protein-based artificial retinas, and it is difficult to avoid double-sided coating using land-based manufacturing approaches.
“This is a huge success for us,” said Nicole Wagner, president and CEO of LambdaVision.
Another advance is that LambdaVision validated the hardware to make the process autonomous. The first mission required manual intervention throughout the manufacturing cycle. Space Tango CubeLabs now operates almost entirely on its own.
With each launch, LambdaVision validates the manufacturing process, testing different parameters, such as whether changing the time spent in each stage improves the overall result.
LambdaVision is continuously working to ensure that our microgravity process follows good manufacturing practices.
“[We’re looking at] How do we make this as reproducible and high quality as possible?” says Wagner. “That’s another big part of what we’ve been doing.”
LambdaVision also develops assays and experimental techniques to assess the quality and function of retinal prostheses and to measure the effects of microgravity environments.
“We’ve made a lot of progress, but we still have work to do,” says Wagner. “We continue to explore parameters and continue to develop these assays, but his creation of 200-layer films under microgravity is a major milestone.”
LambdaVision will participate in three more launches, with its next launch in Space X Crew 5 next October.
This work is supported by a $5 million NRA commercialization grant from NASA.
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