Arzeda, the industry-leading Protein Design Company, announced it has been selected for an award from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) Biological Technologies Office (BTO) under its Artificial Intelligence (AI) Biotechnology (AI BTO) initiative. The award follows on the heels of the announcement of co-founder David Baker's 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for pioneering work in computational protein design.
Arzeda, one of only a select group of organizations chosen from numerous applicants, will leverage and expand its AI platform for the rapid and robust design of proteins spanning a wide range of functions and properties. The award was granted after a competitive evaluation process and will directly contribute to DARPA's mission of creating transformative technologies for national security.
Arzeda will use this funding to focus on creating and validating AI models capable of rapidly engineering proteins with enhanced functionalities and manufacturability, even when starting with limited training datasets. This innovative approach has the potential to revolutionize the development of proteins for diverse applications, ranging from next-generation therapeutics, advanced materials, agriculture, and beyond.
This DARPA award builds on Arzeda's momentum, including recent funding rounds, additional product development partnerships, and commercial success with the launch of its ProSweet RebM stevia.
