Well Told Grants

Grants / Department of Defense / DARPA - Biological Technologies Office

HR001123S0048: Assured Microbial Preservation in Harsh Or Remote Areas (AMPHORA)

Closed Closed October 4, 2023 Opportunity HR001123S0048

This grant is closed. A newer notice from the same program is open now: Young Faculty Award (YFA) 2027 (DARPARA2701). Status: Closes January 13, 2027 (67 days left). It is in our archive of DARPA - Biological Technologies Office notices from 2023.

DARPA - Biological Technologies Office offered grants to the applicants described in the notice. Applications closed on October 4, 2023.

From the official notice on Grants.gov, last changed August 23, 2023. Checked November 7, 2026.

Key dates

PostedAugust 8, 2023
DeadlineOctober 4, 2023
Archived by Grants.govNovember 3, 2023

Who can apply

This opportunity was open to the applicants described in the notice.

All responsible sources capable of satisfying the Government's needs may submit a proposal that shall be considered by DARPA. See the Eligibility Information section of the BAA for more information.

Is this a realistic fit?

What the grant funds

Emerging infectious disease hotspots are expected to increase globally within the next 50 years. While technology has advanced agnostic lab-based testing, agnostic sample preservation still relies on antiquated cold chain transport that is difficult to acquire and often unreliable in remote, austere, and contested environments. Thus, samples critical to force health protection are significantly degraded upon lab receipt. The Assured Microbial Preservation in Harsh Or Remote Areas (AMPHORA) program will decouple sample preservation from cold chains enabling cold chain free storage and viability maintenance in austere and remote environments. AMPHORA systems will stabilize a broad range of bacteria, fungi, and viruses, preserving multiple samples in parallel, and ensuring samples are compatible with downstream analyses. Preservation systems will be rigorously tested using contrived and real-world samples to demonstrate real-world capability and generalizability.

Category: Science and Technology and other Research and Development.

Who has won Research and Technology Development grants before

From fiscal 2021 to 2025, Research and Technology Development (12.910) awarded $1.5 billion across 739 grant awards, an average of $2.1 million per award.

Largest recipients, fiscal 2021 to 2025
RecipientStateAwardsAmount
University of Southern CaliforniaCalifornia26$84.5 million
Clemson UniversitySouth Carolina2$82.2 million
Massachusetts Institute of TechnologyMassachusetts29$63.1 million
Regents of the University of MichiganMichigan21$59.6 million
The Regents of the University of California, San FranciscoCalifornia5$44.4 million

Top states: California ($334 million), Massachusetts ($188 million), New York ($103 million), Pennsylvania ($87.8 million), Illinois ($83.3 million).

Applying now

This notice no longer takes applications. Apply under the newer notice, DARPARA2701, which is open now.

The notice on Grants.gov keeps its full text and attachments, which is useful for planning a resubmission.

Questions people ask

Is HR001123S0048 still open?

No. It closed on October 4, 2023. A newer notice is open: DARPARA2701, closes January 13, 2027 (67 days left).

Who can apply for Assured Microbial Preservation in Harsh Or Remote Areas (AMPHORA)?

DARPA - Biological Technologies Office accepted applications from the applicants described in the notice. The notice adds further conditions, so read its eligibility section.

What is the deadline for Assured Microbial Preservation in Harsh Or Remote Areas (AMPHORA)?

Closed October 4, 2023. Applications are no longer accepted; the program's newer notices are on this page when there are any.

Who has won Research and Technology Development grants before?

The largest recipients over five fiscal years were University of Southern California, Clemson University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology. The program made 739 awards worth $1.5 billion in that time.

Similar open grants