DARPA and the pandemic

Dr. Amy Jenkins, Program Manager in Biological Technologies Office (BTO), DARPA

This presentation will provide an overview of the DARPA BTO Pandemic Prevention Platform program and the role it has played in covid-19 pandemic response.  Additionally, the role of novel and emerging nucleic acid technologies and distributed manufacturing in future preparedness efforts will be discussed.   

About the speaker:Dr. Amy Jenkins joined DARPA as a Program Manager in June 2019.  Her interests include the development of platforms for combatting infectious disease threats as well as novel manufacturing methods to enable rapid response.   

Prior to joining DARPA as a PM, Dr. Jenkins was a Senior Scientist at Gryphon Schafer where she contributed to development of programs targeting infectious disease threats within BTO. Prior to supporting DARPA, Dr. Jenkins studied the virulence factors of, and antibodies targeting, multi-drug resistant bacterial pathogens at MedImmune.  She also served as a National Research Council Postdoctoral Fellow at the United State Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases where she studied virulence mechanisms of biodefense pathogens.  

She received her Doctor of Philosophy degree in Chemistry and Chemical Biology from Cornell University and her Bachelor of Science in Chemistry and Biomolecular Science from Clarkson University.