The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is involved in developing new materials and tools for engineering biological systems, according to Dr. Arati Prabhakar, Director of DARPA appearing before the U.S. Senate Subcommittee on Emerging Threats and Capabilities in April.
Dr. Prabhakar reports that DARPA’s “Living Foundries” program is developing the next-generation tools and technologies to engineer biological systems to compress the biological design test cycle in both time and cost.
For example, the program has demonstrated the ability to generate a suite of novel bio-products in weeks rather than years. The program is also producing new classes of materials with novel properties to enable a new generation of mechanical, optical, and electrical products to be developed.
DARPA is very interested in doing rapid threat assessments. As Dr. Prabhakar explained, “Even as we develop new materials and tools for engineering biological systems, we understand that we must also be prepared to react quickly to our adversaries that may seek to use similar capabilities. The gap between threat emergence, mechanistic understanding, and potential treatment could leave populations here and around the world vulnerable.”
Also, DARPA launched the Rapid Threat Assessment (RTA) program to develop methods and technologies within 30 days of exposure to a human cell to map the complete molecular mechanism to see how a threat agent alters cellular processes.
Dr. Prabhakar also told the Committee, “DARPA’s prime interest has been to tackle the brain. DARPA’s investments and interest starts with the goal to protect and assist service members in preventing or treating TBI, ease the effects of PTSD, or learning to operate sophisticated prosthetic limbs with thoughts alone.”