Biological Technologies

This announcement describes a research thrust, entitled “Keystone,” that will focus on the early events associated with brain injury. This solicitation is released under the current DARPA BTO Office Wide Broad Agency Announcement (BAA), HR001120S0044, entitled “Biological Technologies,” which can be found at https://beta.sam.gov/opp/4efd37762ed0475d871af927279f010d/view. This special notice is soliciting proposal abstracts and full proposals to HR001120S0044. It is highly encouraged that proposers submit proposal abstracts (2 pages), which will be reviewed to determine whether or not a full proposal submission is encouraged. The requirements for the abstract and full proposal submission, evaluation, and award of any resulting awards will ultimately be subject to the terms described in HR001120S0044.

The purpose of this announcement is (1) to draw the attention of the scientific community to the Keystone study topics, (2) to initiate dialogue and teaming that will lead to team-based abstract/proposal submissions to address the Keystone study topics, (3) to share the planned timetable for the submission of abstracts and government feedback concerning said abstracts, and (4) to share the planned timetable for the submission of full proposals.

• Proposal Abstract Due Date: January 14, 2021, 4:00 PM ET • Full Proposal Due Date: February 25, 2021, 4:00 PM ET

This special notice is designed to solicit proposals to identify the first “biological responder(s)” within milliseconds to seconds after the brain sustains a militarily relevant brain injury. The resulting studies will evaluate the first biological responder(s) (i.e., molecular or cellular responses) following traumatic brain injury (TBI) from blasts as well as unconventionally acquired brain injury (UBI) from ultrasound and electromagnetic sources.

Keystone seeks to leverage recent advances in neuroscience related to in vivo (preferable) and in vitro high spatial and temporal resolution molecular and imaging measurements. Although advanced measurement platforms can now obtain millisecond temporal resolution and subcellular spatial resolution, they have yet to be specifically leveraged for investigating the first biological responder(s) in the millisecond to second timescale after TBI and UBI. A few examples exist of in vivo brain injury models integrated with high-resolution measurement techniques, but none currently investigate the millisecond to second molecular or cellular responses immediately post-injury. The primary objective is to identify the first “biological responder(s),” which we define as biological factors involved in the response to brain injury within milliseconds to seconds after the brain sustains a militarily relevant brain injury. If proposers choose to address multiple injury models in their proposals, a secondary objective is to determine if the identified first biological responder(s) is the same or different depending on the energy source causing the brain injury. These objectives can be addressed initially in in vitro systems (cells, organoids, micro-physiological systems), but ultimately must be achieved in an in vivo model of brain injury.