The original idea was an old one. An iron lung is a classic form of mechanical respirator that used both negative and positive air pressure to inflate and deflate the lungs when a person lacked ability to do it for themselves—such as when a patient was paralyzed by polio.

Modern-day patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), often called emphysema, can breathe on their own, but due to changes in the lungs caused by past smoking, they frequently experience shortness of breath. This symptom is even more pronounced during physical activities. Patients can feel like they’re suffocating even when just walking from room to room. COPD affects 15 million people in the United States, with an annual cost of approximately $50 billion for their care.

“What if we could make a vest that can decrease the shortness of breath of COPD patients such that they are able to engage in life again?” says Jake Brenner, a pulmonary critical care physician in the Perelman School of Medicine.

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