Stuff soldiers with electronic chips: DARPA
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is known for conducting high-level research on advanced military technology. However, the Office is increasingly focusing its attention on the most important, but sometimes underestimated area - medical support of personnel.
The work of DARPA in the field of military medicine for the most part is carried out with the participation of the newest component in its overall structure - the Office of Biological Technologies Biological Technologies Office (WTO). As its director Brad Ringizen noted, "our office is working on a wide range of tasks that can be grouped into three major categories." First, it is neurobiology, for example, the use of brain signals for the operation of limb prostheses. The second direction is genetic engineering or synthetic biology. The third area of research focuses on technologies that can outrun infectious diseases, and this is a priority research area of DARPA.
According to Colonel Mat Hepburn, head of several programs at the WTO, there are a number of reasons that bring the fight against infectious diseases to the fore. For example, the US military or its allies may be deployed to help a region or country affected by a specific pandemic, such as Ebola. "We are a globally deployed military force and we are going to send our people to the areas that we need to protect against diseases."
Microphysiological system development Institute for Biological Engineering Wiss
Developing technologies and treatments that prevent infectious outbreaks can also increase national security. For example, treatments developed for military personnel can be used to prevent or treat major pandemics among the civilian population. However, all this is also true at lower levels, up to a single individual.
“A simple but extremely illustrative example is the flu on the ship,” explained Hepburn. “Infected personnel are less efficient and this may affect the performance of the entire task.” As another example, Hepburn cited the danger of a member of a group being infected with malaria or dengue fever, “which is quite commonplace in the places where we work. This of course can actually destroy the entire mission if you don’t think about medical evacuation and precautions for this person. ”
As Hepburn noted, there are two broad categories when it comes to dealing with infectious diseases. First, it is a diagnosis: find out if a person is sick or not. Secondly, what to do if someone is sick, that is, the development of a course of treatment or countermeasures, such as a vaccine.
However, the main focus of DARPA is still on predicting whether a healthy-looking person will become sick. In addition, the Office wants to know not only the likelihood that the patient may get sick, but he is also contagious or not. “Will he spread the contagion?” Can we suppress the outbreak in a particular community? ”
Hepburn also spoke about the Prometheus program. According to DARPA, its goal is to search for “a set of biological signals in a newly infected person who can indicate within 24 hours whether this person will become infectious,” which will allow starting treatment at an early stage and taking steps to prevent the transmission of this disease to other people.
Prometheus currently focuses on acute respiratory diseases, which have been chosen to confirm the concept, although this technology may be applicable to other infectious diseases.
“Suppose we have 10 people who have been infected, we could test them and say that these three people will be the most infectious and become carriers of the disease. We will then treat these people in order to prevent the spread of the infection, ”explained Hepburn.
The Prometheus project aims to create “biomarkers” that show a person’s susceptibility to the disease and its potential level of infectiousness. “These markers are hard to create,” noted Hepburn. - Another difficulty is the removal of indications from these markers in the field and in the points of medical care. It may be necessary to develop a battery-powered device that could do the job. "
“I believe that their military use is quite obvious,” Hepburn continued. - Imagine a barrack or a ship or a submarine. The ability to determine who is going to get sick and stop the outbreak of the disease in these cramped conditions would be extremely useful for our military. ”
In the area of preventive measures, DARPA does a lot of work to prevent diseases. The main focus is on the development of so-called “almost immediate” solutions to neutralize the infectious outbreak, which will work much faster than the traditional vaccine.
“If I give you a vaccine, it may take two or three doses in six months before you reach the required level of immunity,” said Hepburn.
In this regard, the DARPA has begun work on a new program called RH (Pandemic Prevention Platform - a pandemic prevention platform), whose goal is to develop a “near-immediate” solution that can complement vaccines. The vaccine works by causing the body to produce antibodies, and if they circulate in the blood in sufficient quantities, then the person is protected from a specific infectious disease. DARPA intends to dramatically accelerate this process through the implementation of the P3 program.
“What if we could just give antibodies that would fight the infection or protect you?” In fact, if a person could just inject the right antibodies, then he would immediately receive protection, said Hepburn. “The problem is that it takes months and years to get enough of these antibodies in a factory.” This is a complex and expensive process. ”
Instead of the traditional process, the production of antibodies and their introduction into a human vein, DARPA is working on the creation of an injectable injection, which contains DNA and RNA for antibodies, so that the body itself creates the necessary antibodies. With the introduction of the genetic code into the body "for 72 hours, you will already have enough antibodies for your protection." Hepburn believes that this can be achieved within four years, by the end of the program Р3.
Ringizen heads another program to develop preventive measures, “Microphysiological systems” or “Organs on a chip”, within which artificial models of various systems of the human body on inkjet chips or chips will be created. They can be used in different ways, for example, vaccine testing or the introduction of a biological pathogen. The goal is ambitious - imitation of the processes of the human body in the laboratory.
MIT Body-on-Chip Concept Illustration
“The significance of this is enormous,” Ringingen added. “You can explore literally thousands of drug candidates for their efficacy and toxicity without the current laborious and expensive processes that you have to go through.”
The current development model includes several very expensive processes, including animal testing and clinical research. Animal studies are very expensive and do not always accurately reflect the effect of the drug or vaccine on the human body. With regard to clinical studies, they are even more expensive, and the vast majority of tests fail.
“Even more difficult is the work for the Ministry of Defense, since many of the medical protective measures it needs are designed to combat biological and chemical agents,” he added. “You cannot take a group of people and test them with anthrax or Ebola.”
The Organs on a Chip technology is revolutionizing the development of drugs for the military community and civil society. The project, led by teams from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is now coming to an end.
Chip for lightweight development of the Wiss Institute
Ringizen also noted the Elect-Rx program (Electrical Prescriptions - Electrical Recipes), aimed at developing technologies that could artificially stimulate the peripheral nervous system, using its ability to quickly and effectively self-heal.
"This will improve the immune system, will give the body greater resistance to infections or inflammatory diseases," Ringizen explained.
Hepburn believes that in the future, military medicine will be able to "much better predict the disease at the earliest stages, and then it remains only to take appropriate measures in a specialized institution."
“Everything is as with preventive maintenance of your car. A sensor in it signals, for example, that the engine may break or that you need to fill in the oil. We want to do the same with the human body. ”
In the body, these sensors can be combined with other technologies, which will automatically begin the necessary action, for example, monitoring glucose levels in a patient with diabetes. "We have not yet achieved this, but in 10 years, it will become a common reality."
Military medicine - especially with an emphasis on treatment methods and preventive measures - can bring real benefits in a number of other areas. It is clear that the priority is to protect personnel from infections, but preventing such outbreaks on a larger scale, such as fighting pandemics, also has a direct impact on the level of safety. As a result, military medicine must meet the needs of not only an individual soldier, not only the Armed Forces, but also society as a whole.
Materials used:
www.darpa.mil
wyss.harvard.edu
web.mit.edu
www.genengnews.com
www.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
The work of DARPA in the field of military medicine for the most part is carried out with the participation of the newest component in its overall structure - the Office of Biological Technologies Biological Technologies Office (WTO). As its director Brad Ringizen noted, "our office is working on a wide range of tasks that can be grouped into three major categories." First, it is neurobiology, for example, the use of brain signals for the operation of limb prostheses. The second direction is genetic engineering or synthetic biology. The third area of research focuses on technologies that can outrun infectious diseases, and this is a priority research area of DARPA.
According to Colonel Mat Hepburn, head of several programs at the WTO, there are a number of reasons that bring the fight against infectious diseases to the fore. For example, the US military or its allies may be deployed to help a region or country affected by a specific pandemic, such as Ebola. "We are a globally deployed military force and we are going to send our people to the areas that we need to protect against diseases."
Microphysiological system development Institute for Biological Engineering Wiss
Developing technologies and treatments that prevent infectious outbreaks can also increase national security. For example, treatments developed for military personnel can be used to prevent or treat major pandemics among the civilian population. However, all this is also true at lower levels, up to a single individual.
“A simple but extremely illustrative example is the flu on the ship,” explained Hepburn. “Infected personnel are less efficient and this may affect the performance of the entire task.” As another example, Hepburn cited the danger of a member of a group being infected with malaria or dengue fever, “which is quite commonplace in the places where we work. This of course can actually destroy the entire mission if you don’t think about medical evacuation and precautions for this person. ”
As Hepburn noted, there are two broad categories when it comes to dealing with infectious diseases. First, it is a diagnosis: find out if a person is sick or not. Secondly, what to do if someone is sick, that is, the development of a course of treatment or countermeasures, such as a vaccine.
However, the main focus of DARPA is still on predicting whether a healthy-looking person will become sick. In addition, the Office wants to know not only the likelihood that the patient may get sick, but he is also contagious or not. “Will he spread the contagion?” Can we suppress the outbreak in a particular community? ”
Hepburn also spoke about the Prometheus program. According to DARPA, its goal is to search for “a set of biological signals in a newly infected person who can indicate within 24 hours whether this person will become infectious,” which will allow starting treatment at an early stage and taking steps to prevent the transmission of this disease to other people.
Prometheus currently focuses on acute respiratory diseases, which have been chosen to confirm the concept, although this technology may be applicable to other infectious diseases.
“Suppose we have 10 people who have been infected, we could test them and say that these three people will be the most infectious and become carriers of the disease. We will then treat these people in order to prevent the spread of the infection, ”explained Hepburn.
The Prometheus project aims to create “biomarkers” that show a person’s susceptibility to the disease and its potential level of infectiousness. “These markers are hard to create,” noted Hepburn. - Another difficulty is the removal of indications from these markers in the field and in the points of medical care. It may be necessary to develop a battery-powered device that could do the job. "
“I believe that their military use is quite obvious,” Hepburn continued. - Imagine a barrack or a ship or a submarine. The ability to determine who is going to get sick and stop the outbreak of the disease in these cramped conditions would be extremely useful for our military. ”
In the area of preventive measures, DARPA does a lot of work to prevent diseases. The main focus is on the development of so-called “almost immediate” solutions to neutralize the infectious outbreak, which will work much faster than the traditional vaccine.
“If I give you a vaccine, it may take two or three doses in six months before you reach the required level of immunity,” said Hepburn.
In this regard, the DARPA has begun work on a new program called RH (Pandemic Prevention Platform - a pandemic prevention platform), whose goal is to develop a “near-immediate” solution that can complement vaccines. The vaccine works by causing the body to produce antibodies, and if they circulate in the blood in sufficient quantities, then the person is protected from a specific infectious disease. DARPA intends to dramatically accelerate this process through the implementation of the P3 program.
“What if we could just give antibodies that would fight the infection or protect you?” In fact, if a person could just inject the right antibodies, then he would immediately receive protection, said Hepburn. “The problem is that it takes months and years to get enough of these antibodies in a factory.” This is a complex and expensive process. ”
Instead of the traditional process, the production of antibodies and their introduction into a human vein, DARPA is working on the creation of an injectable injection, which contains DNA and RNA for antibodies, so that the body itself creates the necessary antibodies. With the introduction of the genetic code into the body "for 72 hours, you will already have enough antibodies for your protection." Hepburn believes that this can be achieved within four years, by the end of the program Р3.
Ringizen heads another program to develop preventive measures, “Microphysiological systems” or “Organs on a chip”, within which artificial models of various systems of the human body on inkjet chips or chips will be created. They can be used in different ways, for example, vaccine testing or the introduction of a biological pathogen. The goal is ambitious - imitation of the processes of the human body in the laboratory.
MIT Body-on-Chip Concept Illustration
“The significance of this is enormous,” Ringingen added. “You can explore literally thousands of drug candidates for their efficacy and toxicity without the current laborious and expensive processes that you have to go through.”
The current development model includes several very expensive processes, including animal testing and clinical research. Animal studies are very expensive and do not always accurately reflect the effect of the drug or vaccine on the human body. With regard to clinical studies, they are even more expensive, and the vast majority of tests fail.
“Even more difficult is the work for the Ministry of Defense, since many of the medical protective measures it needs are designed to combat biological and chemical agents,” he added. “You cannot take a group of people and test them with anthrax or Ebola.”
The Organs on a Chip technology is revolutionizing the development of drugs for the military community and civil society. The project, led by teams from Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, is now coming to an end.
Chip for lightweight development of the Wiss Institute
Ringizen also noted the Elect-Rx program (Electrical Prescriptions - Electrical Recipes), aimed at developing technologies that could artificially stimulate the peripheral nervous system, using its ability to quickly and effectively self-heal.
"This will improve the immune system, will give the body greater resistance to infections or inflammatory diseases," Ringizen explained.
Hepburn believes that in the future, military medicine will be able to "much better predict the disease at the earliest stages, and then it remains only to take appropriate measures in a specialized institution."
“Everything is as with preventive maintenance of your car. A sensor in it signals, for example, that the engine may break or that you need to fill in the oil. We want to do the same with the human body. ”
In the body, these sensors can be combined with other technologies, which will automatically begin the necessary action, for example, monitoring glucose levels in a patient with diabetes. "We have not yet achieved this, but in 10 years, it will become a common reality."
Military medicine - especially with an emphasis on treatment methods and preventive measures - can bring real benefits in a number of other areas. It is clear that the priority is to protect personnel from infections, but preventing such outbreaks on a larger scale, such as fighting pandemics, also has a direct impact on the level of safety. As a result, military medicine must meet the needs of not only an individual soldier, not only the Armed Forces, but also society as a whole.
Materials used:
www.darpa.mil
wyss.harvard.edu
web.mit.edu
www.genengnews.com
www.wikipedia.org
en.wikipedia.org
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