IARPA B-SAURUS program aims to identify, reverse engineer explosives, drugs & counterfeit materials in supply chains

The US spy community’s research and development funding arm IARPA announces the B-SAURUS program to identify and reverse engineer bio-manufactured materials and molecules used for illicit drugs, explosives, and counterfeits in supply chains.

On Monday, the Intelligent Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) put out a Broad Agency Announcement (BAA) for its “Biomaterial Structural Analyses for Use Recognition and Understanding Synthesis (B-SAURUS)” program that aims to “enhance the Intelligence Community’s (IC’s) capability to secure supply chains, identify counterfeits, and combat illegal activities associated with illicit narcotics.”

According to the B-SAURUS description, “bio-manufactured materials and molecules (BMMs) may utilize stolen intellectual property, originate from prohibited sources, or facilitate illegal activities.”

Therefore, the US spy community will look to “validate the origins and associated supply chains of these critical BMMs to prevent new vulnerabilities to US security interests.”

According to the draft technical requirements, B-SAURUS will have two task areas:

1. Energetics, including:
   • Hexanitrohexaazaisowurtzitane: an explosive used in rocket propellants
   • 1,2,4-Butanetriol trinitrate: a propellant used in missiles that is more stable than nitroglycerine
   • 1,3,5-triamino-2,4,6-trinitrobenzene: a highly powerful explosive
   • Nitrocellulose: A highly flammable compound used in bullets, missiles, and shells
2. Illicit or controlled substances and their components, including:
   • Fentanyl
   • Methamphetamine
   • Morphine

For B-SAURUS, research teams will leverage advances in:

• Analytical instrumentation
• Synthetic biology
• Biomanufacturing
• Data analytics (to include machine learning/artificial intelligence)

The B-SAURUS program is a collaborative effort between IARPA and the DEVCOM Aviation and Missile Center — the US Army’s “primary center for developing, integrating, demonstrating, and sustaining Army aviation and missile systems.”

Leading the B-SAURUS program is program manager Dr. Michael Patterson, who joined in IARPA in 2021 after having previously “supported the Defense Threat Reduction Agency (DTRA) as a contractor with Booz Allen Hamilton, focusing on international research engagement in Europe and the Middle East,” according to his bio.

As a program manager, Dr. Patterson has led several IARPA programs, including:

• Targeted Evaluation of Ionizing Radiation Exposure (TEI-REX): Seeking methods for evaluating individuals and/or organisms exposed to low doses, potentially as low as 5cGray, of ionizing radiation. 
• Biointelligence and Biosecurity for the Intelligence Community (B24IC): Seeking to develop new methods to detect, collect, analyze, and prevent traditional biological threats, and to identify new opportunities and vulnerabilities from biotechnology and synthetic biology advances.
• Pursuing Intelligent Complex Aerosols for Rapid Detection (PICARD): Seeking to develop sensors that rapidly identify aerosol particles in challenging environments.
• Protein-Based Human Identification Methods (PROTEOS): Seeking to develop protein-based forensic approaches to augment DNA identification methodologies and provide an alternative when DNA fails in challenging forensic cases.
• Functional Genomic and Computational Assessment of Threats (Fun GCAT): Seeking to develop methods to rapidly assess the function of DNA sequences to determine if they pose a threat

The B-SAURUS program is expected to be a multi-performer, 18-month initiative in three phases; demonstrating feasibility, establishing capabilities against precursor BMMs, and demonstrating capabilities with formulated targets.

The program aims to deliver protocols, molecular signatures and feature lists, and predictive software tools for BMM analysis to the IC to support national security interests. 

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