DARPA today released Breakthrough Technologies for National Security, a biennial report summarizing the Agency’s historical mission, current and evolving focus areas and recent transitions of DARPA-developed technologies to the military Services and other sectors.
One of DARPA's four main areas of focus is to harness biology.
Harness Biology as Technology: To leverage recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, immunology, genetics and related fields, DARPA in 2014 created its Biological Technologies Office, which has enabled a new level of momentum for the Agency’s portfolio of innovative, bio-based programs. DARPA’s work in this area includes programs to accelerate progress in synthetic biology, outpace the spread of infectious diseases and master new neurotechnologies.
Harnessing Biology as a Technology
• Accelerating Progress in Synthetic Biology
Biological systems have evolved tremendously sophisticated and highly efficient approaches to synthesizing compounds, including some with the potential to address current challenges in fields ranging from medicine to materials science. DARPA is developing technologies to harness biology’s synthetic and functional capabilities, with the goal of creating revolutionary bio-based manufacturing platforms that can enable new production paradigms and create materials with novel properties
• Outpacing Infectious Diseases
As the 2014 Ebola outbreak demonstrated, emerging infectious diseases can be a significant threat not just to health but also to national stability. DARPA is developing unconventional biological approaches to reduce the threats posed by infectious disease. Among the Agency’s goals are the development of genetic and immunological technologies to detect, diagnose and treat infectious diseases with unprecedented precision and rapidity, and platforms for exploring the evolution of viruses, predicting mutational pathways and developing drugs and vaccines in advance of need.
• Mastering New Neurotechnologies
Recent advances in microelectronics, information science and neuroscience are enabling the development of novel therapies to accelerate recovery after a range of injuries and, in the longer run, new approaches to optimizing human performance. Among the Agency’s goals in this domain are implantable neural interfaces for human clinical use to bridge gaps in the injured brain, help overcome memory deficits and precisely deliver therapeutic stimuli in patients with neuropsychiatric and neurological disease; and systems to provide sensor-enabled feedback from prosthetic hands to the nervous system to provide enhanced dexterity and even the sense of touch for amputees.
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DARPA’s Electrical Prescriptions (ElectRx, pronounced “electrics”) program aims to develop ultraminiaturized feedback-controlled neuromodulation technologies that would monitor health status and intervene as needed to deliver patient-specific therapeutic patterns of stimulation designed to restore a healthy physiological state. Peripheral neuromodulation therapies based on ElectRx research could help maximize the immunological, physical and mental health of military Service members and veterans.
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One of DARPA's four main areas of focus is to harness biology.
Harness Biology as Technology: To leverage recent breakthroughs in neuroscience, immunology, genetics and related fields, DARPA in 2014 created its Biological Technologies Office, which has enabled a new level of momentum for the Agency’s portfolio of innovative, bio-based programs. DARPA’s work in this area includes programs to accelerate progress in synthetic biology, outpace the spread of infectious diseases and master new neurotechnologies.
Harnessing Biology as a Technology
• Accelerating Progress in Synthetic Biology
Biological systems have evolved tremendously sophisticated and highly efficient approaches to synthesizing compounds, including some with the potential to address current challenges in fields ranging from medicine to materials science. DARPA is developing technologies to harness biology’s synthetic and functional capabilities, with the goal of creating revolutionary bio-based manufacturing platforms that can enable new production paradigms and create materials with novel properties
• Outpacing Infectious Diseases
As the 2014 Ebola outbreak demonstrated, emerging infectious diseases can be a significant threat not just to health but also to national stability. DARPA is developing unconventional biological approaches to reduce the threats posed by infectious disease. Among the Agency’s goals are the development of genetic and immunological technologies to detect, diagnose and treat infectious diseases with unprecedented precision and rapidity, and platforms for exploring the evolution of viruses, predicting mutational pathways and developing drugs and vaccines in advance of need.
• Mastering New Neurotechnologies
Recent advances in microelectronics, information science and neuroscience are enabling the development of novel therapies to accelerate recovery after a range of injuries and, in the longer run, new approaches to optimizing human performance. Among the Agency’s goals in this domain are implantable neural interfaces for human clinical use to bridge gaps in the injured brain, help overcome memory deficits and precisely deliver therapeutic stimuli in patients with neuropsychiatric and neurological disease; and systems to provide sensor-enabled feedback from prosthetic hands to the nervous system to provide enhanced dexterity and even the sense of touch for amputees.
DARPA’s Electrical Prescriptions (ElectRx, pronounced “electrics”) program aims to develop ultraminiaturized feedback-controlled neuromodulation technologies that would monitor health status and intervene as needed to deliver patient-specific therapeutic patterns of stimulation designed to restore a healthy physiological state. Peripheral neuromodulation therapies based on ElectRx research could help maximize the immunological, physical and mental health of military Service members and veterans.
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