TECHNOLOGY LICENSING OPPORTUNITY: NanoFET

NanoFiber Engineered Therapeutics Platform (NanoFET) from Los Alamos National Laboratory offers pharmaceutical and biodefense organizations a modular, adaptable scaffold for building next-generation immunotherapies. By merging self-assembling peptide nanofibers with interchangeable nanobody and peptide components, the platform enables rapid development of targeted treatments that bridge disease agents directly to the patient’s own immune cells.

Infectious diseases and chronic conditions such as cancer continue to impose enormous public health and economic burdens worldwide. Conventional vaccines and biologics are typically designed against a single pathogen or target, leaving populations vulnerable when new or unknown threats emerge. For military personnel and first responders, the absence of broad-spectrum medical countermeasures means that exposure to an unidentified pathogen in the field can be met with little more than supportive care. In cancer immunotherapy, connecting tumor cells to the patient’s own immune effector cells remains a formidable engineering challenge; current bispecific antibody formats are complex to manufacture, expensive and often limited in the number of targets they can engage simultaneously. Meanwhile, traditional antibody-based therapeutics are large molecules that can be difficult to produce at scale, may trigger unwanted immune reactions and lack the modularity needed for rapid adaptation to new disease targets. A platform capable of addressing multiple threats through a single reconfigurable architecture would represent a meaningful shift in how therapeutics are developed and deployed.

Advantages:

• Modular architecture allows rapid swapping of nanobodies and peptides to address new disease targets without redesigning the core platform 
• Dual-function capability bridges disease agents directly to immune cells on a single construct, enabling both targeted and broad-spectrum responses
• Adjuvant-free immune activation through self-assembling nanofibers that inherently stimulate robust, innate immune responses
• Small, stable targeting molecules (nanobodies) that are easier to produce and engineer than conventional full-size antibodies
• High-density multivalent display presents multiple antigens or functional components simultaneously, enhancing immune recognition
• Compatibility with external biologics enables partners to integrate their own AI-designed binders or proprietary targeting molecules onto the nanofiber scaffold

Market Applications

• Oncology (bispecific T-cell engagers, tumor-targeted immunotherapies, combination immunotherapy platforms)
• Infectious Disease Therapeutics (pan-influenza treatments, broad-spectrum antiviral and antibacterial countermeasures, emerging pathogen response)
• Biodefense and Military Medicine (medical countermeasures for warfighters, rapid-response therapeutics for unknown biological threats, field-deployable immune enhancers)
• Vaccine Development (multiantigen vaccine platforms, adjuvant-free subunit vaccines, mucosal and systemic immunization)
• Pharmaceutical Biologics and Drug Delivery (nanobody-drug conjugate scaffolds, targeted immune cell delivery, modular biologic platforms)

TRL 3

U.S. Patent pending

LA-UR-26-25007

LANL Tech Partnerships: Unlock the Innovative Potential

Los Alamos National Laboratory offers a wide range of cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that may provide your company with a competitive edge in the market and unlock the innovative potential that can enhance, refine, and revolutionize your products.

LANL’s licensing program focuses on moving inventions developed by our researchers to commercial innovations. Patented and patent pending inventions and copyrighted software are available to existing and start-up companies through exclusive and non-exclusive licensing agreements. For specific discussions, please contact licensing@lanl.gov.

Note: This is not a call for external services for the development of this technology.

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