An-Cockrell Lab Awarded up to $38M by ARPA-H to Build Digital Twins for Critical Illness

September 30, 2026

Dr. Gary An has received a research and development contract worth up to $38 million from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the largest research award in the history of the University of Vermont. The project, ReSCUED (Reprogramming Severe Critical Illness Using Extensible Digital Twins), is part of ARPA-H’s CIRCLE program.

Over up to five years, ReSCUED will combine frequent bedside measurement of a patient’s immune state, a mechanism-based digital twin of that patient, and an AI “virtual consultant” trained on the twin to identify and test treatment strategies with FDA-approved agents before they are given. The An-Cockrell Lab leads the effort and is building the computational models and digital twin platform, working with clinical sites at Wake Forest, UAB (through the Quantum Leap Healthcare Collaborative) and Washington University in St. Louis, and with technology partners DNA Medicine Institute and InflammaSense.

The project is expected to create new computational modeling positions at the Larner College of Medicine.

An-Cockrell Lab Selected as Funded Team in the DARPA Triage Challenge!

April 8, 2024

The An-Cockrell Lab Has Been Selected as a Funded Team in the DARPA Triage Challenge for the Data Competition Track, with Dr. Cockrell as the Primary Investigator.

The DARPA Triage Challenge (DTC) aims to revolutionize medical triage in mass casualty incidents (civilian and military) through the use of technology. The goal is to foster the development of algorithms and sensors for rapid, accurate injury identification. This initiative targets enhancements in stand-off and sensor-based triage, critical in scenarios where medical resources are scarce or overwhelmed.

Within this broader initiative, the DTC Data Competition specifically seeks to develop algorithms which are capable of detecting potential physiological decompensation from biomedical signal data. This would allow for the targeting of scarce resources to those patients who will benefit most. This competition emphasizes the importance of early intervention in pre-hospital settings to save lives, focusing on conditions that can be temporized in the field with a large impact on survival.