In a world where the lines between biology and artificial intelligence are increasingly blurred, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is stepping up with an ambitious new initiative. This September, DARPA’s Biological Technologies Office (BTO) will launch AI BTO, a series of events designed to unite bio-innovators, artificial intelligence/machine learning (AI/ML) experts, and unconventional thinkers in a bid to drive the next wave of technological breakthroughs.

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Engaging the Unconventional

Scheduled for this September on both the East and West Coasts (9/13 in San Francisco and 9/20 in Boston), AI BTO’s promotional events aim to attract first-time and non-traditional proposers. These events, available in both in-person and hybrid formats, will offer participants a unique glimpse into DARPA’s mission and provide opportunities to engage with BTO’s top minds. Participants will have the chance to meet BTO Program Managers, who support various concepts across the biological sciences. At the upcoming events, these managers will present their current projects and outline their future ambitions, providing a rare opportunity for direct interaction.

Additionally, BTO leadership will introduce an exclusive event slated for November/December, where program managers will compete to develop the most innovative ideas for addressing AI/ML challenges in the biological sphere. This event promises to identify and nurture concepts that could lead to transformative advancements.

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Unveiling a Vision for the Future

BTO’s leadership will unveil five critical topics aligned with AI/ML applications, setting the stage for the future of bio-innovation. The first topic, Prediction and Health, focuses on developing tools to revolutionize health outcomes through early exposure risk models, predictive disease assessments, and personalized counterfactual predictions. Prioritizing rapid and safe interventions, BTO aims to validate the performance of AIxBio tools and assess the risks and benefits of democratizing these technologies.

The second area, Autonomous Science, seeks to enable unprecedented levels of autonomy in data generation and curation. By leveraging disruptive autonomy and new cloud lab instances, BTO aims to increase data generation exponentially, facilitating more efficient and scalable research. In Biomanufacturing/Synthetic Biology, BTO aims to discover new techniques for designing bespoke proteins and biomolecules. Through closed-loop inferences linking sequence, structure, and function, BTO aims to accelerate bioproduction while ensuring biofidelity and economic efficiency, advancing the fields of synthetic biology and biomanufacturing.

Addressing the Challenges of Scale, the fourth area, BTO, plans to develop mechanisms for handling sparse data sets and predictive models. This includes managing ecosystem-scale data across disparate databases and creating digital twins from microbes to mammals. These models are designed to predict outcomes even in extreme environments, ensuring robust and scalable solutions. Lastly, in the fifth area, Exciting Frontiers, BTO aims to create biomolecules with unprecedented functionalities, such as novel catalysis mechanisms and advanced fluorescence. This includes predicting and designing new multicellular communities to achieve desired functions. BTO will also develop models for new areas of AIxBio, focusing on data validation, explainability, and trustability. The tactical and strategic impacts of biotech capabilities in DoD scenarios will be assessed, promoting advanced biomimicry through biological models.

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Bridging the Innovation Gap

AI BTO is not just about presenting DARPA’s vision; it’s about creating a bridge between DARPA and potential collaborators. By promoting an understanding of funding opportunities and engagement methods, BTO aims to foster a collaborative ecosystem where innovative ideas can thrive and evolve into groundbreaking programs. These promotional events represent a unique opportunity for bio-innovators, AI/ML experts, and visionaries to engage with DARPA, understand its objectives, and explore ways to contribute to the next wave of technological advancements. BTO’s commitment to driving innovation and addressing emerging DoD challenges is evident in this initiative.

AI BTO is DARPA’s call to all innovators, inviting them to help shape the future of biological technologies. With its focus on revolutionary approaches and emerging DoD challenges, BTO is poised to lead the way in integrating AI/ML with biological sciences. As the bio-innovation community eagerly awaits the details of these events, AI BTO promises to be a transformative platform, bringing together the brightest minds to tackle some of the most pressing challenges of our time. Stay tuned for more information and prepare to embark on this exciting journey towards a new era of biological and technological synergy.

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