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New ARPA-H Research Programs and Initiatives (Updated 8/28/2026)

 

NEW ARPA-H RESEARCH PROGRAMS AND INITIATIVES 

 

Investigators planning to apply to ARPA-H must notify the CAO Office ‘as early as possible’ by contacting Research Program Manager Ruchi Chauhan, PhD (rchauhan@bidmc.harvard.edu). 

Important note: ARPA H submissions are competitive at the institutional level and may require coordination through the CAO Office. In addition, ARPA H applications are highly competitive, and proposals are most successful when developed by multi partner team with required expertise. The CAO Office may help navigate BIDMC/BILH resources to support your submission.

We highly recommend joining the “Proposer’s Day” as it is a great way to learn more about this opportunity, and connect with the ARPA-H Program Manager, and other teaming opportunities. 

In addition, please visit the link provided for program of your interest.  Current open programs and initiative are listed below -

1. Programs Portfolio

  • REST (Restorative and health-Enhancing Sleep Time) program will advance two technical areas: 1) measure and diagnose sleep quality at home with clinical fidelity and 2) control and treat sleep problems by developing non-invasive, closed-loop systems with real-time interventions throughout the night. Together, these components are intended to: 

    Define sleep quality by identifying the physiological features of sleep that predict meaningful health outcomes. Measure those features accurately in home environments rather than only in specialized sleep laboratories. Control sleep quality in real time through adaptive, personalized interventions that respond to an individual's physiology throughout the night.

    If successful, REST could redefine sleep quality using health outcomes as the ground truth, enable clinically meaningful sleep assessment in the home, and create adaptive technologies that improve sleep in real time. Check for details here - https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/programs/rest

     

  • The Fast Assessment of Solutions, Therapeutics, Pharmaceuticals, and Supplies (FASTPASS) program aims to protect Americans from harm caused by substandard or contaminated medicines. The goal of FASTPASS is to enable sampling of pharmaceutical shipments in minutes, without opening boxes, by building rapid, non-destructive screening tools that can verify drug quality and safety through packaging, in near real-time, at ports, warehouses, and distribution centers. TA1 SAMPLE: TA1 performers will develop advanced through-packaging sensing technologies to evaluate the chemical makeup of a product using spectrographic or other non-contact, non-destructive means. TA2 DETECT: TA2 performers will develop analytics and models that will transform existing spectroscopic techniques and also address four areas critical to implementing next generation techniques, fully realizing the technological developments in TA1. Please review program link here: https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/programs/fastpass
  • The Systems for Tracking and Resilience in Efficient Agricultural-input Management (STREAM) program is ARPA-H’s shared pledge to accelerate farm modernization and food supply security. The program aims to develop safer alternative crop protection formulations, improve monitoring of herbicide off-target spread, and create methods to remove or break down herbicides from soil and water before they get to consumers. If successful, STREAM will reduce the cumulative chemical burden borne by American consumers and agricultural workers, protect the soil and water on which our food supply depends, and give farmers economically viable alternatives to the herbicides they rely on today. Link here: https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/programs/stream

 

2. Initiatives and Sprints

Accelerating Safe Clinical Evaluation of Novel Treatments: Ibogaine for Better Outcomes in Opioid Use Disorder (ASCENT-IBO) is directly aligned with Executive Order 14401, Accelerating Medical Treatments for Serious Mental Illness and aims to support the development of ibogaine-based treatment for people with OUD at high risk of negative health outcomes. ARPA-H is calling on researchers, clinicians, and innovators across academia, industry, and government to help accelerate early-stage (Phase 1 and 2) clinical trials of ibogaine for OUD that prioritize patient safety and translation into Phase 3 testing. These trials represent a critical step toward generating the rigorous scientific evidence needed to evaluate ibogaine as a potentially transformative new treatment option. Check for details here: https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/initiatives-and-sprints/ascent-ibo

  • Technology InteGrator and AcceleratoR (TIGAR) Exploratory Topic (ET) is an ARPA-H initiative to accelerate research and overcome the current barriers to preserving complex human tissues. TIGAR aims to rapidly evaluate early-stage, high-risk preservation technologies and explore what is possible to stabilize tissues across different temperature ranges, store them for longer periods, and rapidly restore them to a functional state after storage. Check for more information on the link: https://arpa-h.gov/explore-funding/initiatives-and-sprints/tigar
  1. ARPA-H Mission Office Innovative Solution Openings (ISO) provide a way to seek funds for individual research projects that fall outside the scope of an ARPA-H program or initiative, but that still aligns with an ARPA-H research focus areas. These are accepted on a rolling basis. You must follow 3 things:
  2. Review the ARPA-H ‘Program Portfolio’ and ‘Initiatives & Sprints’ to ensure your idea falls outside the scope of existing programs.
  3. Review the solicitations of the four ISOs linked below to determine which research focus area is the best fit for your idea.
  • Health Science Futures Office ISO (ARPA-H-SOL-24-104): Research that removes scientific and technological limitations that stymie progress towards the health care of the future.
  • Proactive Health Office ISO (ARPA-H-SOL-24-106): Research that focuses on preventative programs that reduce the likelihood that people become patients.
  • Resilient Systems Office ISO (ARPA-H-SOL-24-103): Research that builds robust and integrated health care systems.
  • Scalable Solutions Office ISO (ARPA-H-SOL-24-105): Research that addresses challenges to geography, distribution, manufacturing, data and information, and economies to promote equitable solutions.
  1. Submit a brief Solution Summary outlining the key features, goals, and the potential impact of a proposed solution or project. Summaries are required and proposers must receive written feedback from ARPA-H, before submitting a full proposal.