Researchers ask industry for ways to combine biology and microsystems for creatures capable of self-repair
ARLINGTON, Va. – U.S. military researchers are asking industry to find new ways of controlling biological functions using microsystems and molecular catalysts.
Officials of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) in Arlington, Va., has issued a solicitation (HR001125S0007) for the Microsystem Induced Catalysis (MICA) project.
Artificial Cells and Their Potential Use in Sensing, Information Processing, and Self-Repair
Military researchers may use this kind of research in future hopes of designing nonliving artificial cells able to carry out functions of living cells for sensing, information processing, and self-repair.
DARPA officials first announced their intention to pursue the MICA program in December, and briefed industry on the program's details in late January.
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The aim of the project could be creating machines that combine the properties of electronics, mechanics, and biology that ultimately could sense, reason, upgrade, and repair themselves.
Electron flow in transistors sometimes are similar to molecular flows in biochemical reactions in living cells, and their similarities suggest that cells and electronic components could interact in a predictable and controllable way.
Microsystem-Driven Biological Control in the MICA Program
The MICA program focuses on using microsystems to control biological functions, and will seek hardware demonstrations of molecular catalysts immobilized to microsystem surfaces and controlled by physical forces generated by the microsystem.
Additionally, the program focuses on modeling and simulation of such integrated molecular microsystems, with an emphasis on biomolecular catalysts.
MICA centers on how microsystems can control molecules; how microsystem physics can drive catalyst function; and how co-design approaches can integrate microsystems and molecules.
The MICA program's design and simulation portion will include ways to predict the dynamic performance of molecules integrated with microsystems. The project's fabrication portion will include ways to place and immobilize molecules at microsystem interfaces to help the microsystem control catalyst activity.
The Integration of Catalytic Molecules with Microsystems
A major thrust is placing and attaching catalytic molecules to microsystems to drive biological function. The program will emphasize compatibility with standard microelectronics manufacturing.
Approaches should include how to predict molecule structure and function, and how to couple to a field-programmable gate arrays (FPGAs) and CMOS digital logic circuits.
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The MICA program will form two kinds of performer teams: those with expertise in molecular design, microsystem design, and fabrication to integrate molecules with microsystems to control molecular function; and those with expertise in modeling and simulating the performance of microsystem and molecule performance to develop tools for predicting integrated system performance.
Companies interested should submit abstracts no later than 5 Feb. 2025, and proposals no later than 20 March 2025 to the DARPA BAA Website online at https://baa.darpa.mil.
Email questions or concerns to the DARPA BAA coordinator at [email protected]. More information is online at https://sam.gov/opp/50e056e49fd349c0a8546e645d3ccbe3/view.
John Keller | Editor-in-Chief
John Keller is the Editor-in-Chief, Military & Aerospace Electronics Magazine--provides extensive coverage and analysis of enabling electronics and optoelectronic technologies in military, space and commercial aviation applications. John has been a member of the Military & Aerospace Electronics staff since 1989 and chief editor since 1995.
