To protect its soldiers from mosquitoes .. America engineered their skin genetically

Tariq Cain

The US Department of Defense has launched a new project to provide long-term protection against mosquito-borne diseases through the genetic engineering of bacteria that live on the surface of the human skin.

The goal of the new project is to immunize US soldiers and provide them with safe and durable means of defense against a wide range of serious mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria, dengue and chikungunya, which can destroy the combat fitness of American soldiers.

Earlier this month, the DARPA launched an initiative called Refactor, a four-year initiative designed to create easily delivered treatments, Within hours and keep it away for at least two weeks.

Darpa
DARPA, the US Department of Defense, was founded more than 52 years ago to lead military research and development, but it was the creative force behind many revolutionary innovations that forever changed the world, such as the Internet, GPS, .

DARPA is responsible for the development of new technologies for military use, and the main financier of many exotic scientific research. In April 2014, DARPA established the Office of Biotechnology in a mission to "harness the power of biological systems" to help design technology Defensive.

The office funds research in areas such as memory improvement, human-machine coexistence, and how to speed up disease detection and response.

One of the projects, the biology plants, aims to develop programmable microbes such as bacteria and yeast to produce compounds for drug development, which has taken a big step forward for days after re-coding the complete genome of E. coli bacteria.

Reflector
Microbium is the sum of microbes that coexist with humans and live on their bodies or within their intestines.

"Mosquitoes are attracted to human microbial metabolism," explains Chris Sund, director of the Refactor program, where mosquitoes can find the next meal by inhaling certain chemicals released by someone. Bacteria that live on human skin consume their metabolism (metabolites) and turn them into chemicals that can make a person's smell more attractive to mosquitoes, depending on the existing bacterial strains.

So DARPA asked the teams that presented research proposals for the Refactor project to identify the specific molecular and microbial characteristics that characterize mosquito-attracting levels, model those molecular networks, identify impact points to reduce this attraction, and design strategies and methods to change microbial to reduce mosquito attraction and nutrition.

Participants in the Refactor program should also demonstrate safe and accurate treatment that provides a 100-fold decrease in mosquito feeding during the four years of the project. Full research proposals will be submitted in response to the Darba Declaration by July 11.

Safe for human use
In addition to deciphering the complex interactions between microbes and human physiology, participants in the program will have to take into account the contrast factor between individual microbiomes. Other requirements include developing a plan to test interventions safely in humans and a strategy to deploy them to military personnel.

In order not to bias research proposals for the Refactor project, Sund says the initiative has no specific budget. It should be noted that the aim is to establish human-made clinical trials ready and put them smoothly in the Ministry of Defense's grip to begin protecting the soldiers in service.

"DARPA will work with regulators from the Food and Drug Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture early on" to provide guidance on organizational views before the research begins, "Sund said. The Agency will also ensure that the interventions designed are safe for human use and the environment.