Draper Awarded $3 Million from ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health to Advance the Well-being of Pregnant Women by Leveraging its Innovative Organ-on-chip Capabilities

The goal of Draper’s program is to address the challenge of drug safety during pregnancy without needing to test on pregnant women. The Draper team, led by Principal Investigators Dr. Corin Williams and Dr. Hesham Azizgolshani, will use the ARPA-H award to develop a bioengineered model of human pregnancy. Specifically, Draper plans to create interacting tissue models of the placenta, the unique organ that protects and nourishes the fetus, and a developing heart model comprised of stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes to represent a sensitive developing organ. Draper’s advanced capabilities in microphysiological systems will allow testing of pregnancy-relevant medications in dozens of miniature human pregnancy models at a time and determine if they are safe.

“Healthy pregnancies affect all human life, so we believe that many people will care about the outcome of our program,” said Corin Williams, Biomedical Engineer and Principal Investigator. “Our vision is to use our developed technology to test medications in the lab so that we don’t have to test on pregnant women, to provide safer options for these patients.”

“Draper’s 90-year legacy of providing solutions for our nation is something we are proud of,” said John Julias, acting vice president for Biotechnology Systems at Draper. “Having an opportunity to create long-lasting healthcare solutions for women is paramount, and we look forward to making an impact.”

ARPA-H’s Sprint for Women’s Health attracted a record number of submissions across six topics in women’s health. The initiative, announced by First Lady Jill Biden in February, marks the first major deliverable from the White House Initiative on Women’s Health Research.

The ARPA-H Sprint for Women’s Health is conducted in collaboration with the Investor Catalyst Hub of ARPANET-H, the agency’s nationwide health innovation network that connects people, innovators, and institutions to accelerate better health outcomes for everyone.

Over the next two years, Draper will work closely with ARPA-H and the Investor Catalyst Hub to advance their solution.

About Draper

As a nonprofit engineering innovation company, Draper serves the nation’s interests and security needs; advances technologies at the intersection of government, academia and industry; cultivates the next generation of innovators; and solves the most complex challenges. Multidisciplinary teams drawn from a broad and deep talent pool of 1,600 engineers and scientists collaborate to develop first-of-a-kind solutions. Draper’s unbiased approach enables the company to focus on their customers’ needs and to deliver new capabilities to them. Learn more at draper.com.

Media Contact

Scott Deitz, Draper, 1 336-908-7759, [email protected], Draper.com

SOURCE Draper