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FAQs: DARPA "7 Day Biodefense" (DARPA BAA 09-43)

What is the "7 Day Biodefense" opportunity?

"7 Day Biodefense" is a DARPA Defense Sciences Office (DSO) funding opportunity (DARPA BAA 09-43) supporting high-risk, high-payoff research on medical therapeutics intended to protect U.S. military personnel from infectious disease threats, including naturally emerging outbreaks and engineered or intentionally obscured biological agents.

Why did DARPA create this program?

DARPA cites an increasing frequency and variety of outbreaks and novel pathogens, driven by factors such as increased human-animal contact, denser populations, climate-driven shifts in vector ranges, and reduced genetic diversity in food animal stocks. DARPA also highlights a growing synthetic risk: widely available genetic engineering tools can be repurposed for hostile use or covert biological sabotage, including targeting food animals and supply lines. These combined threats may evade conventional detection and overwhelm traditional countermeasure timelines, especially for deployed forces.

What problem is the program trying to solve in outbreak response?

The program aims to break the traditional, slow, sequential outbreak response timeline: quarantining exposed personnel, identifying and characterizing the pathogen (potentially taking months), developing a vaccine or therapeutic (often years), then manufacturing and distributing it. DARPA emphasizes that this approach may fail for unknown, hard-to-characterize, or engineered agents because people can die before a tailored countermeasure is available.

What does "7 Day Biodefense" seek instead of traditional pathogen-specific approaches?

The solicitation seeks approaches that can work without prior knowledge of the specific pathogen and that can be broadly applicable across multiple, unrelated infectious agents. It emphasizes revolutionary advances in science, devices, and/or systems, rather than incremental improvements to existing practices.

How is the program organized technically?

The program is described as a two-phase effort organized around four distinct Technical Areas. Proposals must select and address only one Technical Area.

What are the four Technical Areas?

The four Technical Areas are:

• Technical Area 1: Prevent Infection - stopping infection from taking hold in the first place.
• Technical Area 2: Sustain Survival - extending survival long enough for other interventions or natural recovery to become possible.
• Technical Area 3: Provide Transient Immunity - rapidly providing temporary protection that does not depend on knowing the specific pathogen.
• Technical Area 4: Create Persistent Immunity - accelerating and shaping longer-lasting immune protection, including speeding the onset of adaptive immunity.

Can a proposal cover multiple Technical Areas?

No. Each proposal is expected to choose and address only one of the four Technical Areas.

What kind of schedule and planning does DARPA expect in a proposal?

Proposers are expected to present an aggressive research schedule with clear milestones. Those milestones should demonstrate a credible path to achieving the end-of-phase performance metric for the selected Technical Area.

Are there specific performance metrics?

Yes. The program references end-of-phase performance metrics for each Technical Area. The full announcement (available via DARPA's solicitation site) contains the specific metrics and related details.

What is the "Live Fire Test" mentioned in the opportunity?

For Technical Areas 3 (Provide Transient Immunity) and 4 (Create Persistent Immunity), DARPA indicates there will be a "Live Fire Test" in an animal model against a DARPA-designated unknown biological agent. The intent is to demonstrate that the approach can function under realistic uncertainty rather than only against a pre-selected organism.

Is the "Live Fire Test" required for all Technical Areas?

Based on the provided description, the "Live Fire Test" is specifically indicated for Technical Areas 3 and 4, not for Technical Areas 1 and 2.

What kinds of concepts does DARPA want to see under this solicitation?

DARPA signals interest in methods that bypass traditional bottlenecks, such as isolating and culturing the pathogen, identifying the pathogen before acting, relying on standard antigen processing pathways, and waiting for the normal timeline of adaptive immune responses. The solicitation favors platforms or mechanisms that can act immediately and broadly, including in cases where the agent is novel, engineered, or intentionally obfuscated.

What types of work are explicitly out of scope?

The program is limited to pre-clinical validation; human clinical trials are explicitly out of scope. The solicitation also excludes work that is mainly evolutionary or incremental, and it gives examples such as conventional ventilator or mask technology improvements and traditional post-exposure antibiotic use as approaches that would not meet the novelty bar described.

Is this program focused on vaccines, therapeutics, or both?

The opportunity is framed around medical therapeutic research and broader medical countermeasure concepts that can protect against infectious disease threats. It emphasizes approaches that are not dependent on prior knowledge of the pathogen and that can work under uncertainty, including immune-related strategies (particularly in the Technical Areas focused on transient and persistent immunity).

Does DARPA require cost sharing or matching funds?

No. The opportunity states there is no cost-sharing requirement.

Who is eligible to apply?

Eligibility is described as broadly unrestricted (open to any type of entity), subject to any clarifications in the full announcement.

What funding mechanism(s) could DARPA use for awards?

DARPA indicated it could make awards using multiple instrument types, including cooperative agreements, grants, other transactions, and procurement contracts.

What is the CFDA number for this opportunity?

The opportunity is listed under CFDA 12.910 (Research and Technology Development).

When was the opportunity posted and when did it close?

The opportunity was posted June 22, 2009 (created June 23, 2009) and had a closing date of June 21, 2010. It was archived July 21, 2010.

Where were the full announcement and details available?

The full announcement and additional details (including end-of-phase metrics and live test descriptions for relevant Technical Areas) were provided through DARPA's solicitation site.

Who should applicants contact for access issues or solicitation-site questions?

The opportunity references a designated BAA coordinator contact for access issues related to the solicitation site, as described in the full announcement.

What makes this a "high-risk, high-payoff" program?

The solicitation calls for revolutionary advances and approaches that can operate without pathogen-specific identification and without waiting for traditional countermeasure development timelines. It also includes rigorous demonstrations (for certain Technical Areas) against a DARPA-designated unknown agent in an animal model, reflecting an emphasis on capability under uncertainty.

Why does the program emphasize military relevance?

DARPA notes that military personnel can be particularly exposed due to deployments, travel, and operational environments. The program is oriented toward protecting U.S. military forces from infectious disease threats that could spread quickly or be intentionally introduced.

Does the solicitation address threats beyond human infection?

Yes. DARPA highlights the possibility of covert biological sabotage, including attacks on food animals and supply lines, as part of the broader threat environment motivating the program.