ISN-hosted MIT Waves, Bits, and Molecules team wins ARPA-H award to advance next-generation personalized biosensors

MIT Waves, Bits, and Molecules (WBM), an interdisciplinary initiative hosted by the MIT ISN, has received an award from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H) through its Digital Health Enabled by Personalized, Secure, and Interoperable Biosensor Platforms (DELPHI) program. Led by Ahmad Bahai, the WBM PYTHIA project will develop a clinical-grade, extensible wearable patch for continuous sensing of heart-failure biomarkers, powered by heat generated by the wearer and incorporating advanced, energy-efficient on-chip artificial intelligence. PYTHIA is one of four projects announced under DELPHI, an initiative aimed at developing a new generation of small, modular, and reconfigurable biosensors capable of continuously monitoring a broad range of biological signals. ARPA-H has committed up to $117.4 million to the DELPHI program over four and a half years.

Read about the award on the ARPA-H website.

WBM is a joint MTL–ISN initiative envisioned as a world-class innovation environment at the intersection of health science and semiconductor technology. Its laboratory provides a flexible, open-access space where researchers and students from across disciplines can rapidly prototype and develop hardware and systems spanning biosensing, signal processing, microfluidics, and edge AI.

Specialized capabilities for optoacoustic imaging, magnetic sensing, microfluidic platforms, physiological phantoms, and other emerging technologies support both fundamental research and early-stage translation. By integrating waves (RF and optics), bits (information processing), and molecules (biological and chemical interfaces), WBM fosters convergence among technology, life science, and computation to address critical challenges in health and technology.