The Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), an agency within HHS, announced on September 25, 2026 four contract awards through its BioStabilization Systems (BoSS) program, funding three teams to develop new methods to produce, store, and transport cell-based biologic medicines at room temperature, plus one independent verification and validation (IV&V) partner to provide test materials and performance assessments throughout the program. ARPA-H’s commitment is up to $87 million across the four-year program.
The “200-Degree Leap”
The awards mark a major step toward the program’s goal of moving from ultra-cold storage (around -196°C) to close to room temperature (around 21°C) — technology that would end reliance on the cold chain for some of medicine’s most promising treatments and unlock the future of regenerative medicine. Gloria Elliott, PhD, BoSS Program Manager, said: “Many of the newest therapeutics on the market rely on very cold storage temperatures, which contribute to unacceptably ballooning price tags. If we can eliminate the need for deep freezing, it will unlock the full, life-changing potential of cell-based therapies for patients who currently do not have access to them. To do that, we need to develop biocompatible materials that can prepare cells for stabilization and ensure successful re-animation, and we also need new processing approaches that are gentle enough to achieve that suspended animation state at scale without loss of cell viability.”
Why the Cold Chain Is Such a Costly Bottleneck
Biologics — medicines manufactured from living cells or organisms, including cell- and gene-based therapies — are a rapidly growing class of treatments with the potential to treat and even cure cancers, chronic autoimmune disorders, and other rare diseases. But they can be prohibitively expensive for the average patient, in part because of the logistical requirement to keep fragile biologics in an unbroken cold chain of ultra-cold storage from the manufacturing site to the hospital. A single dose worth hundreds of thousands of dollars can be ruined by a shipping delay or cryogenic container failure. Reliance on frozen storage adds tens of billions of dollars annually and represents a significant barrier to both innovation and access. All BoSS performers will work with transition partners to apply their technology to a cell therapy toward the end of the project.
Three Teams, Two Technical Approaches
The selected teams will work across two technical areas: interventions to stabilize and restore cells, and novel processing systems that reduce chemical and physical stress on cells during manufacturing. Award amounts vary per team and are contingent on meeting aggressive research milestones.
- DesiCorp will lead a team including the University of Louisville, University of Texas at Austin, Via Therapeutics, VeriSIM Life, and Ossium Health, using high-throughput screening to identify biocompatible formulations that slow cellular metabolism, paired with AI-assisted process optimization to develop a thin-film freeze-drying system that stabilizes cells at room temperature.
- Charles Stark Draper Laboratory will lead a team including Likarda, CPSI Biotech, OFC Life Sciences, CaseBioscience, the University of Colorado Boulder, Fresenius Kabi, and MiNK Therapeutics, using AI-assisted design of experiments to optimize formulation, quiescence induction parameters, hydrogel composition, and recovery media, with freeze-assisted droplet drying to achieve a stable product.
- University of California, Davis will lead a team including Mayo Clinic, Case Western Reserve University, University of Georgia, and Sersense, using light-responsive gels and microfluidic processing to induce a low metabolic state in cells, producing cells stable at room temperature.
ATCC’s Role as Independent Validator
ARPA-H selected ATCC — the same Manassas, Virginia-based biological resource center behind several of its own recent federal biodefense and NAMs contracts — to serve as the program’s IV&V partner. ATCC will provide working cell banks of government-selected cell types for performer demonstrations and deliver unbiased assessments of both the viability and function of preserved products and the design features of the preservation systems themselves.
What Success Would Look Like
If successful, BoSS could enable lower costs for cell-based drugs, reduce the risk of therapeutic and pharmaceutical product losses, and support domestic reserves for public health preparedness. Awardee teams will progress through a four-year, multi-phase structure, with performance evaluated against increasingly stringent benchmarks for cell viability, production speed, and shelf-life stability.
