ARPA-H committed up to $117.4 million over four and a half years to four wearable biosensor teams. The agency named the awards on October 1 under Delphi, a program it launched in March.
MIT takes up to $37.9 million for a heart failure patch that runs on body heat and does its AI work on chip. Novelna, a California proteomics company, takes up to $33.2 million for a patch that tracks inflammation after a heart attack and moves data through the body itself. New York University takes up to $30.8 million for an inflammation monitor with microscopic probes under the skin and DNA-based sensors that scavenge power from Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. The University of Washington takes up to $7.5 million for a sweat sensor that tracks the perimenopause transition using engineered proteins that refresh by pH.
Milestones land at 18 months for interoperability and post-quantum secure communication, 24 months for a first in vivo prototype and an expanded biomarker list, and 54 months for clinical trials or human factors studies. Funding continues only for teams that hit them.
Putting post-quantum cryptography on an 18 month gate is unusual for a prototype program, and it will shape the radio and key management choices before anyone has clinical data. Teams planning a submission off this work should note the clinical step sits at the far end of the clock.