February 19, 2025
8:00 AM – 5:00 PM ET

Registration is required for all attendees.

Registration Deadline:
US Citizens - February 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM ET
Foreign Nationals - February 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM ET

Click the button below to view the Special Notice.

Meeting Location

Executive Conference Center
4075 Wilson Boulevard
Suite 300
Arlington, VA 22203

Virtual Participation
ZoomGov

Program Objective & Description

The BioElectronics to Sense and Treat (BEST) program seeks to improve warfighter recovery from battlefield injuries by developing technologies to diagnose, prevent, and treat wound infections in real-time. Currently, the detection and diagnosis of microbial wound pathogens requires complicated genetic assays or multi-day cell culture approaches, neither of which can be done quickly or simply in combat situations. Further, the standard of care for prevention and treatment of wound infections on the battlefield or in military hospitals is via broad-spectrum and high-dose antibiotics alongside surgical debridement, which are not specific to the pathogen, drives antibiotic resistance, can have toxic side effects, and require advanced medical training.

 

To address this problem, BEST performers will develop a novel, bioelectronic bandage comprised of wound infection sensor and treatment modules. The sensors will be high-resolution for the real-time, continuous monitoring of wounds. Data from these sensors will be used to predict if a wound will fail to heal due to infection and to regulate targeted administration of known (antibiotic) and novel (non-antibiotic) treatments to prevent a predicted infection or to resolve an existing infection so that the wound heals. Key to success of the BEST program will be technologies that adapt to changes in and variations among individuals and that continually update the status of a wound to intervene if a wound predicted not to fail transitions to one predicted to fail. By the end of the program, the sensor and treatment elements will be combined into a low size, weight, and power (SWaP), closed-loop, smart bandage that can provide rapid diagnostics and precise treatments and can be deployed at all levels of military medical care including Role 1 and Role 2 casualty care settings.

In addition to the technical research efforts to derisk these novel technologies, BEST performers will be expected to plan for the eventual transition of their final bioelectronic systems. This will include activities to prepare for regulatory, clinical, and commercialization next steps with the goal of maximizing opportunities for advanced development and follow-on funding from private and/or government sponsors.

 

Event Participation

Registration

There is no registration fee for the Proposers Day. The registration deadline for US Citizens is February 14, 2025 at 4:00 PM ET. The registration deadline for Foreign Nationals is February 12, 2025 at 4:00 PM ETAdvance registration is required to participate in the meeting. For webinar participants, the advance registration requirement applies to every individual intending to view the webcast either alone or as part of a group.

Due to space limitations of the conference facility, attendance will be limited to the first 110 registrants, and no more than 2 representatives per organization.   Individuals who are unable to register because the deadline has occurred may request to be added to the waitlist. If slots become available due to cancellations, the slots may be filled on a first come, first served basis from the waitlist.

Attendance at this event is not a requirement for submission of a proposal or selection for funding. Information relayed during the Proposers Day will be made available on the BTO section of the DARPA Opportunities page: http://www.darpa.mil/work-with-us/opportunities.

Eligibility

DARPA hosts Proposers Days to promote teaming arrangements between researchers; provide potential performers with information on whether and how they might respond to the Government’s research and development solicitations; and to increase efficiency in proposal preparation and evaluation. Therefore, Proposers Days are open only to registered potential proposers.

All registrants who are not U.S. Citizens must complete and submit either a DARPA Form 60 (U.S. Permanent Resident and Foreign National Visit Request — e.g., industry or academia) or an Official Visit Request (foreign government personnel, only) through the Embassy based in Washington, DC, no later than 4:00 PM ET on February 12, 2025. Form 60 submission instructions will be provided in the registration confirmation email. Contact your Embassy staff for assistance in submitting the Official Visit Request.

Opportunities for Teaming:

Proposer teams are expected to address all components of the BEST technology development: sensing, treatment delivery, and integration into a closed-loop system. Proposer teams should therefore be multi-disciplinary and highly proficient in many areas such as but not limited to extremity wounds and wound infections, microbial pathogens and biofilms, immunology, electronics, biosensing, engineering, pharmacokinetics, biomedical sciences, animal and human physiology, medical device regulatory and clinical trial processes, and medical device commercialization pathways.

This Special Notice and Proposers Day include two specific opportunities for prospective proposers to identify potential team members:

Interested attendees are invited to submit one (1) Adobe PDF slide (landscape) that summarizes their interests and capabilities (Attachment 1). These will be presented during 3-minute long, single-slide Lightning Talks during the Proposers Day. Submitted presentations consisting of multiple slides or a single slide with multiple layers will not be granted a time slot. Lightning Talk submissions (no more than one per attendee) will be accepted on a first-come, first-served basis, until the maximum possible number of submissions (given time constraints) is reached. Interested attendees must identify their intention to submit the Lightning Talk during registration. To allow a greater number of institutions to share their information during Proposers Day, which will benefit all participants, Lightning Talks from the same institution should be consolidated into a single presentation that conveys the organization's interests and capabilities.

All presentations must be emailed to BEST@darpa.mil no later than 4:00 p.m. ET on February 17, 2025.

Interested parties are also invited to submit a 1-page Teaming Profile describing technical competencies, unique facilities and other capabilities, as they relate to the program, and desired technical/other competencies sought from other potential team partners (Attachment 2). The 1-page profile should include, at a minimum:

  • Contact information (e.g., name, organization, email, phone number, mailing address, website);
  • Brief description of the Proposers technical competencies and relevant facilities; and
  • Desired technical competencies and facilities from other potential team members, if applicable.

Submitted Teaming Profiles will be distributed via email to all registered attendees, in an effort to assist with team development and formation. Submitted Teaming Profiles must be in MS Word or Adobe PDF format. No submissions longer than one (1) page will be accepted. Multiple Teaming Profiles from independent groups in the same institution are allowed.

All conforming Teaming Profiles must be emailed to BEST@darpa.mil no later than 4:00 p.m. ET on February 17, 2025. Profiles that do not use the provided template (see Attachment 2) and/or exceed the 1-page limit will not be accepted. Information contained in Teaming Profiles shall be publicly releasable – profile submitters consent to distribution amongst event registrants.

After Proposers Day, the Teaming Profiles will be sent via e-mail to all registrants. Specific content, communications, networking, and team formation are the sole responsibility of participants. Neither DARPA nor the DoD endorses any participating organization, nor does DARPA or DoD exercise any responsibility for improper dissemination of the Teaming Profiles.

Agenda

Click the button below to see the tentative agenda.