Photo By Aleece Williams | SILVER SPRING, Md. (Aug. 25, 2025) Staff with Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC)...... read more read more
SILVER SPRING, Md. – Yoann Le Breton, with Naval Medical Research Command (NMRC), and Evelina Angov, with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR), submitted a provisional patent application for an antimicrobial, non-antibiotic solution to wound care on July 17.
Le Breton and Angov, both microbiologists, have experimented with different versions of their messenger ribonucleic acid (mRNA)-based antimicrobial solutions to test its effectiveness on wounds, potential application methods and viability in deployed environments where infections resulting from injury present a significant threat to warfighter readiness.
Le Breton’s ultimate vision of this antimicrobial therapy development is creating a treatment that can be distributed as easily as powder, and that can be applied directly into the wounded tissues, or part of a wound dressing.
His idea for a preventative medical solution, kept at room temperature, will allow warfighters access to previously unavailable treatments in remote and austere environments. Without access to treatments that prevent the growth of life-threatening bacteria, service members are more susceptible to the various illnesses they may encounter in the deployed setting, threatening force readiness. By eliminating this risk, researchers can further minimize detriments to total force lethality.
“One issue with current mRNA vaccines is that you have to rely on a complicated chain of supply,” said Le Breton, “and it’s very difficult to move from production to the patient, so we are trying to see if we can tweak the recipe to make it easier to keep this treatment at room temperature.”
With a treatment capable of preventing bacteria growth in an arm’s reach, warfighters will also be better-equipped to treat themselves and others in the event of a mass casualty event where traditional healthcare is not readily available. This resource will limit mission stoppage in scenarios where members would be susceptible to life-threatening bacterial infections, and ensure service members remain mission-ready and multi-capable. The current iteration of this treatment can protect cells from staphylococcal (staph) infection, a dangerous and frequently drug-resistant bacteria, for up to 3 days.
Collaborative effort on this treatment began when Le Breton contemplated the potential of using mRNA to fight antibiotic-resistant bacteria, a method not previously seen. This prompted Le Breton to draft various proposals over the course of 2022, hypothesizing a wound care alternative to standard antibiotic treatments. Ultimately his research culminated in his partnership with Angov, due to her experience in developing mRNA vaccines.
“I’m very excited about this relationship between WRAIR and NMRC,” said Angov. “It’s a great example of how we can work together in a positive way — this is a true collaborative, a positive experience for the groups.”
The research so far has led to several grants to further bolster the joint NMRC-WRAIR studies. These grants, coupled with the provisional patent application, will allow NMRC and WRAIR scientists to continue expanding their research while maintaining protection of their intellectual property.
According to the NMRC legal team, obtaining patent protection for new inventions and technologies can offer multiple benefits.
“The inventions and technologies coming from NMRC are focused on facilitating war fighter health and operational readiness,” said Anthony Vu, patent attorney at NMRC. “Securing a patent prevents another entity from filing and profiting from a similar or identical invention that may also charge the government to use its own technology.”
NMRC can license patents on technology it has created to generate additional funding for warfighter-focused research. Holding patents also encourages cooperation with other researchers, agencies, partner nations and collaborators in academia.
A provisional patent application was filed to establish an early filing date for the antimicrobial therapy, and to ensure protection of NMRC intellectual property while Le Breton and Angov continue their research. Subsequently, another patent application, called a non-provisional patent application, will be filed with the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO). Generally, a non-provisional patent application will be examined by the USPTO, and if it meets all the mandatory legal requirements, the non-provisional patent application can mature into a patent.
Through further development and trials, Angov and Le Breton hope to develop a shelf-stable formula that provides the utmost accessibility to military forces, can provide the recipient’s cells a line of defense from various bacteria and be distributed more easily than typical antibiotic treatments.
NMRC, headquarters of Navy Medicine Research & Development, is engaged in a broad spectrum of activity, from basic science in the laboratory to field studies in austere and remote areas of the world, to investigations in operational environments. In support of Navy, Marine Corps and joint U.S. warfighter health, readiness and lethality, researchers study infectious diseases, biological warfare detection and defense, combat casualty care, environmental health concerns, aerospace and undersea medicine, operational mission support and epidemiology.
| Date Taken: | 08.29.2025 |
| Date Posted: | 08.29.2025 14:20 |
| Story ID: | 546903 |
| Location: | SILVER SPRING, MARYLAND, US |
| Web Views: | 60 |
| Downloads: | 0 |
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