The ARPA-H Platform Optimizing SynBio for Early Intervention and Detection in Oncology (POSEIDON) program aims to develop sensitive and specific first-in-class, at-home, over-the-counter, synthetic Multi-Cancer-Early Detection (MCED) tests to identify 30+ Stage 1 solid tumors using only breath or urine samples.
Funding for awardees varies in amount and is contingent upon the recipient meeting aggressive milestones specific to their project.
The POSEIDON performer teams are led by:
- Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Penn., with its commercial partner Ginkgo Bioworks, aims to develop orally-administered probiotic sensors, which will release bespoke barcodes for urine-based detection with a custom chip.
- Grafton Biosciences, Inc. in Peachtree Corners, Ga. intends to develop both oral and inhalable sensors that will release tunable reporters for urine-based and breath-based detection, respectively, using a smartphone-assisted detection platform.
- Owlstone Medical Limited in Cambridge, United Kingdom seeks to develop inhalable sensors for urine-based detection using multiplexed reporters and volatile compounds for breath-based detection, each of which will be assessed within a handheld reader.
- SRI International in Menlo Park Calif. aims to develop orally-administered sensors that will release customized barcodes for urine-based detection using an engineered, portable detection platform.