DARPA Tests Biohacking Soldier’s Blood

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) — the Pentagon’s top clandestine research arm — is researching whether modifying red blood cells and inserting them into soldiers can protect them from disease and injury on the battlefield.

Why It Hits: Biohacking has evolved from a fringe science to a legit lifesaver for high-risk patients. Figuring out ways to optimize soldiers’ health could both revolutionize war and lead to cutting-edge therapies for civilians in areas such as infectious diseases and various cancers.

Between the Cells: DARPA gave Insider a first look at its program known as “Red Blood Cell Factory.”

• The goal is to load red blood cells with “biologically active components” known as “cargoes” that can act as long-lasting vaccines, medicines, or therapies in soldiers.
• The modified cells would then be inserted into a soldier’s bloodstream, allowing them to travel throughout the person’s entire body since the cells are responsible for circulating oxygen.
• The cargoed cells would circulate the therapies in the soldier for about four months — the typical lifespan of a red blood cell.
• Christopher Bettinger, a biomedical engineering professor overseeing the program, says these therapies could include malaria protection or even cells that “know” to automatically coagulate to keep a wounded soldier from bleeding out.

Closing Thoughts: DARPA is still a far ways off from actually inserting modified red blood cells into a soldier. It’s still in the “Is this even possible?” phase as it experiments on bags of blood. But enhancing soldiers has always been a desire of the US defense and intelligence apparatuses, from the remote-viewing Stargate Project in the ‘70s to the “Cyborg Soldier 2050” report released in 2019. While some ambitions are never realized, the research along the way has led to many consumer products we know and love — like Pringles, duct tape, and the Internet.