United States: subcutaneous sensor developed for …

The United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is developing a biosensor this would allow, once injected into people’s skin, detect the presence of the SARS-CoV-2 virus, the cause of covid-19. This was confirmed this week by the infectious disease researcher and the retired army colonel. Matt Hepburn, who currently works at the Pentagon.

As the specialist explains in an interview with the 60-minute program of the CBS signal, the device “goes under the skin” and immediately can detect if there is any chemical reaction inside the body.

In this case, issue a sign that “means you are going to have symptoms tomorrow”. “It’s like a light from ‘check the engine ‘“Hepburn illustrated. From this signal, the Duke University doctor continued, the person must have a blood test to determine the diagnosis.”

“We can have this information in three to five minutes. By truncating this time, during diagnosis and treatment, what is done is to stop the infection in its tracks, ”Hepburn celebrated.

How it works?

The sensor, the researcher said, has two parts. One is one 3mm hydrogel rope, a material whose network of polymer chains is used in certain contact lenses and other implants. Inserted under the skin with a syringe, the thread includes a specially designed molecule that sends a fluorescent signal outside the body when it begins to fight infection.

The other part is a electronic component that sends light through the skin: detects the fluorescent signal and generates another signal that the user can send to doctor, website, etc. It thus makes it possible to perceive the body’s response to a disease before the presence of symptoms.

Given the suspicion of tracking the movement of people that this type of technology could generate as a development of a US government agency, the scientists dismissed this possibility. and they claimed that the only purpose was to test the blood and look for possible infections.

Other developments

After retiring after 23 years of service in the United States Army as an infectious disease physician, Hepburne explores ways to deal with pandemic threats. Currently, he heads a post for the Ministry of Defense called “Enabling Technologies”, which is developing new vaccines and treatments against rapidly spreading future conditions.

In addition to the injectable sensor, the scientist revealed, the United States Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has developed a filter to remove the virus from the blood through a dialysis machine. As he clarified, the device has already been approved by the FDA and has been used in 300 patients.

The Pentagon also has hundreds of tissue samples from soldiers and sailors infected with pathogens around the world, including the 1918 Spanish Flu that killed millions.

Another Pentagon researcher, Dr Kayvon Modjarrad, director of the Emerging Infectious Diseases subdivision at the Walter Reed Army Research Institute, also confirmed that the US military is developing a vaccine “for all coronavirus families”.

“It’s not science fiction, it’s scientific fact,” he said of the development, which is still in clinical trials. “We have the tools, we have the technology to do it all right now,” Modjarrad said. The goal, explained the scientist, is vaccinate people against potentially fatal viruses that have not yet appeared.

The intention of DARPA, he added in this sense, “is not only to make a vaccine against this virus” but “we are trying to make a vaccine for the whole family of coronaviruses. It is the heart of our vaccine “.

DARPA is an entity of the United States Department of Defense responsible for the development of new technologies for military use. It was created in 1958 as a technological consequence of the Cold War and from there arose the foundations of ARPANET, a network that gave birth to the Internet.