Ginkgo Bioworks awarded $18M contract by DARPA

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, or DARPA, announced that Ginkgo Bioworks, which is building the leading platform for cell programming and biosecurity, has been awarded a 4-year contract worth up to $18M to reimagine how to manufacture complex therapeutic proteins. As a performer on DARPA’s Reimagining Protein Manufacturing, or RPM, project, Ginkgo aims to deliver revolutionary advances in on-demand protein manufacturing by leveraging Cell-Free Protein Synthesis, or CFPS, to enable rapid, high-yield, distributed production of human therapeutic proteins that support national security objectives. Ginkgo will lead a team comprising representatives from Imperial College London, led by Prof. Paul Freemont, Nature’s Toolbox, led by Alex Koglin, and consultant Michael Feldhaus. Therapeutic proteins bearing so-called “post-translational modifications,” such as antibodies, cytokines, and clotting factors are particularly important in the marketplace and to DARPA, as are subunit and conjugate vaccines.