Brown University School of Engineering Associate Professor Jacob Rosenstein has been awarded up to $3.1 million from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), as one part of a multi-institutional research effort to design a new protein sequencing platform utilizing an array of nanopores microfabricated over a custom silicon chip. The project is a collaboration with Northeastern University and is led by Northeastern’s Kostas Research Institute (KRI).
While DNA and RNA sequencing methods are well established and broadly used, the ability to rapidly detect and identify proteins remains a critical gap in multiple areas, including healthcare, biotechnology, and national security. DARPA recently launched the PROtein SEquencing (PROSE) program to pursue fundamentally new approaches to the challenge of accurately reading a broad range of amino acids and post-translational modifications in sequence. As advances in synthetic biology and artificial intelligence accelerate the creation of novel proteins, the importance of direct protein sequencing is expected to grow. Addressing this gap will require not only biological insight but also engineered platforms capable of directly measuring and interpreting molecular information at scale.
Within the project, the Rosenstein group at Brown is responsible for the design, simulation, and prototyping of custom microelectronic chips for acquiring signals from a nanopore array. The chips will implement low-noise amplifiers, digital logic, multiplexing networks, and data conversion circuits.
“This is a great example of how microelectronics and biotechnology can intersect to make progress toward a critical need like protein sequencing. We are very excited to be a part of it,” said Rosenstein.