Johns Hopkins APL Options Unbreakable Battery Technology to Longeviti Neuro Solutions

APL has entered into an option agreement with Maryland-based Longeviti Neuro Solutions, LLC, for use of the Laboratory’s unbreakable, flexible lithium-ion battery technology.

The agreement allows Longeviti a period to test and evaluate the use of APL’s battery, the flexibility and safety of which make it uniquely suited to the type of innovative neuro devices — such as cranial implants — that Longeviti creates for complex brain surgeries.

APL’s unbreakable battery technology, an incombustible lithium-ion power source that operates under extreme conditions such as cutting, submersion and simulated ballistic impact, is uniquely suited to Longeviti’s needs because it can be customized in shape and form without sacrificing safety.

“We are excited to see how Longeviti is able to adopt our technology for their product,” said Jeffrey Maranchi, the program area manager for energy and materials science at APL. “There are myriad applications of APL’s lithium-ion battery technology, and this is a terrific example of its advantageous use in the medical field.”

Longeviti, founded by a team of leading medical device industry executives, neurosurgeons, plastic surgeons and biomedical engineers, began in 2016 as a Johns Hopkins Technology Ventures start-up company and now has five product offerings in three primary focus areas: form, function and power. Under that umbrella, APL’s advances in battery technology dovetail nicely with the company’s ambitions.

“We are proud of our affiliations with Johns Hopkins, and we are pleased APL has this technology. We’re hopeful it’s superior to what we’ve seen in the conventional battery market,” said Jesse Christopher, co-founder and chief executive officer of Longeviti. “A lot of the solutions we’re looking at downstream require power, and the best way to put power into a device to function with the brain is to also put the power source proximal to the brain.

“To do that you need safe and flexible power, and battery shapes that are as organic as the human skull,” he continued. “That’s the vision Longeviti sees: an ability to take custom and off-the-shelf implants and coat them with power supplies that fit perfectly into each human, as unique as their anatomy may be.”

At the conclusion of the agreement, Longeviti will have the option to license the technology for use in its novel surgical implant products.

“This is a strong, local partnership in which APL’s battery can play a role in revolutionizing this important product” said Jim Broskow, strategic partnerships manager in APL’s Office of Technology Transfer. “It’s a beneficial treatment solution for people in need and a great medical application of the Laboratory’s safe battery technologies.”