SAM #DARPA-PA-27-02

DARPA Protein Palace research program for tunable protein purification

DARPA’s Multi X Office is seeking research teams to develop a flexible platform for purifying proteins from complex biomanufacturing feedstocks. - Buyer: Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), Multi X Office (MXO), within the Department of Defense. - Opportunity: Protein Palace research and development program; multiple research awards are anticipated. No commercial OEMs, vendors, products, or equipment are named. - Requested work: Develop and demonstrate a scalable, tunable platform that purifies diverse proteins directly from complex feedstocks and yields properly folded, functional proteins. - Performance targets: Address at least eight protein categories; progress from 8 to 10 proteins, 80% to 95% purity, 50% to 75% yield, and 10 to 100 mL/hour throughput across the program phases. - Key constraints: Proposals must go beyond incremental improvements. Approaches cannot rely on protein-doped feedstocks, affinity tags, only one protein category, extensive feedstock preprocessing, protein-denaturing methods, or additional processing to restore protein folding or function. - Period: 42 months total, comprising a 24-month first phase and an 18-month second phase. Continuation to the second phase depends on funding and first-phase performance. - Other requirements: The model research agreement references performer cost sharing and CMMC Level 1 self-assessment cybersecurity requirements; detailed task objectives and milestones are specified in separate program materials.

Description

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals in the area of tunable purification of any protein from complex feedstocks. Proposed research should investigate innovative approaches that enable revolutionary advances in science, devices, or systems. Specifically excluded is research that primarily results in evolutionary improvements to the existing state of practice.

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