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.
CAMBRIDGE, Mass.– Draper has been selected by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) as an awardee of the Sprint for Women’s Health, a funding opportunity to address critical unmet challenges in women’s health, champion transformative innovations, and tackle health conditions that uniquely or disproportionately affect women. Draper will receive $3 million in funding over two years through the Sprint for Women’s Health spark track for early-stage research efforts.
Over 200 million pregnancies occur each year worldwide. Many pregnant women have medical conditions such as depression, diabetes, high blood pressure, or infections for which medication would be desired. However, more than 90% of FDA-approved drugs are currently contraindicated for pregnancy, mostly because there are insufficient data to make conclusions about safety for the developing fetus.
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.
Released November 4, 2024
