DARPA RPM – Reimagining Protein Manufacuring
DARPA RPM Aims to Speed-Up Production of On-Demand Protein-Based Therapeutics
Department of Defense (DoD) access to critical protein-based therapeutics is limited by the slow pace and substantial costs associated with current protein production methods. The goal of the DARPA Reimaging Protein Manufacturing (RPM) program is to develop tools for distributed, on-demand manufacturing of protein-based drugs, such as antibodies or vaccines, or the proteins required to make them. DARPA has selected performer teams that aim to demonstrate immediate production — initiated within 24 hours — of protein products with yields in excess of 500 units per week with correct protein modifications.
“The current process for producing protein-based therapeutics requires more than a year to establish, while still requiring purification and significant infrastructure,” noted RPM program manager, Dr. Michael Feasel. “RPM aims to initiate protein production within 24 hours, eliminating this long lead time. Fast, on-demand distributed manufacturing could make key proteins on a DoD-relevant timeline in operational environments.”
The 50-month RPM program will address two technical areas. Technical Area 1, Production Yield and Time, focuses on protein synthesis technologies for near-immediate manufacture of proteins at high yields. Technical Area 2, Post-Translational Modifications, seeks novel approaches to make necessary modifications to proteins after production, in a controlled manner to ensure that the final product is bioactive and of high quality.
DARPA selected the following research teams, which are pursuing a variety of approaches to meet the challenges of RPM: Ginkgo Bioworks, Inc., Leidos Inc., and Northwestern University.
“In biology, cellular protein production follows a central dogma: DNA makes RNA and RNA makes protein. Cells do this efficiently, but when you engineer cells to make a protein of your choice, the protein production process is much more time consuming,” Feasel said. “RPM aims to remove the cells from the process using cell-free protein synthesis technologies to decrease time to production, increase yield of production, and perform the correct protein modifications.”
DARPA will utilize independent validation and verification partners throughout the program to assess the function, stability, and composition of the proteins produced through a series of field-recognized analytical techniques.
Additional details of the program schedule and metrics are available in the broad agency announcement at https://sam.gov/opp/9711cee39a984d57ba681390bc1a4564/view.
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