Early Warning System for Biological Threats

ENDAR - Engineered Nucleotide Detection and Ranking

A service to rapidly and reliably identify and characterize engineered organisms.

OVERVIEW

What is ENDAR?

A computational platform that identifies and characterizes genetic engineering. The AI-enabled service is designed to be compatible with a variety of real-world applications and samples—ranging from clinical specimens to complex, multispecies samples such as those collected from wastewater or the environment. ENDAR represents a critical piece of infrastructure for widespread, persistent biosurveillance at ports of entry or even biosafety-level (BSL) labs. Early alerts to genetic engineering, coupled with ENDAR’s detection of the source of the anomaly, can help provide timely insights into potential threats.

What does ENDAR do?

ENDAR can help uncover answers to questions like:

Was the target engineered?
Where in the microbial genome were changes made?
How was it engineered?
What was changed?
Where did any novel genes come from?
Why was it engineered does the sample profile indicate specific, malicious intent?

Developed in partnership with the U.S. intelligence community

ENDAR is a product of the Finding Engineering-Linked Indicators (FELIX) program

Launched in 2018 by the Intelligence Advanced Research Projects Activity (IARPA) to improve current biodetection and biosurveillance capabilities among the U.S. intelligence community.

Through its work on the FELIX program, Ginkgo has achieved a major breakthrough for the biodetection community. The ability to detect genetic engineering in complex biological samples has long been a moonshot goal, and these new capabilities are poised to transform national biosecurity efforts.
Dr. David A. Markowitz- Program Manager at IARPA

Inquire with us about our services, start a program, or develop a new solution to your biosecurity problems with a member of our team today.

Contact our Team