Ginkgo Bioworks announced it has partnered with Carnegie Mellon University on an Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) award tied to the POSEIDON program, a project aimed at developing a new approach to early cancer detection that pairs an orally administered pill with an at-home testing device.
Under the collaboration, Carnegie Mellon will lead the effort with Rebecca Taylor, a professor of mechanical engineering, serving as principal investigator, while Ginkgo will act as the commercial partner. The team plans to combine synthetic biology and nucleic acid nanotechnology to create engineered, tumor-targeting sensors designed to detect tumor-associated conditions such as low oxygen, acidity and elevated lactate.
According to the project description, the ingestible pill would deploy sensors that respond to those signals, then release synthetic reporters intended to indicate the presence of a tumor and, potentially, its tissue of origin. Those reporters would then be excreted into urine, enabling results to be collected through a user-focused screening device intended for home use.
Ginkgo said it will contribute cell and enzyme engineering capabilities to support the development of the diagnostic tools. The broader consortium includes researchers from the University of Pittsburgh, the University of Massachusetts Amherst, and KU Leuven, as well as corporate participants such as Velentium Medical, Clinical Research Strategies, and Platypus Bio.
KEY QUOTES:
“Our dual-function approach is designed to provide an unprecedented level of precision, effectively illuminating hidden tumors from within the body, which then signals the presence of disease through a simple urine test.”
Rebecca Taylor, professor of mechanical engineering, Carnegie Mellon University
“This type of interdisciplinary teaming, and ambitious vision, are essential for bringing transformative new diagnostics to the market.”
Jesse Dill, government BD lead, Ginkgo Bioworks
