Universal Platform for Living Adaptive Toxin-removal (UNI-PLAT)

The Universal Platform for Living Adaptive Toxin-removal, or UNI-PLAT, is a federal solicitation under ARPA-H 03 aimed at developing a universal synthetic biology platform designed to create next-generation microbial chassis that can be readily reprogrammed for diverse programmable functions. The primary proof-of-concept focuses on toxin removal for chronic disease management, but the platform is explicitly intended to be adaptable across multiple industries including environmental remediation, biomanufacturing, agriculture, holistic medicine, and therapeutic discovery. The goal is to establish a stable, reliable, and modular microbial system that functions like a plug-and-play tool, enabling rapid customization without compromising performance or robustness across varied operational environments. This initiative is a total small business set-aside under the SBIR/STTR mandate, restricting eligibility to organizations with fewer than 500 employees, and falls under NAICS code 541714 for research and development in the physical, engineering, and life sciences. Managed by the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health within the Department of Health and Human Services, the solicitation was posted on June 11, 2026, with proposals due by September 30, 2027. While no specific place of performance or point of contact is listed, the project emphasizes cross-sector impact and seeks to catalyze transformative advances in living systems that go beyond the initial toxin-removal application to enable broad, scalable biological solutions.