Posted on 01/29/2021 12:33:20 AM PST by nickcarraway
Air Force researchers are developing technology using cellular reprogramming they say could "heal wounds more than five times faster than the human body."
Scientists are researching "ways to reprogram a person's own cells to heal wounds faster," according to a news release from the service. Indika Rajapakse, associate professor of computational medicine and bioinformatics and mathematics at the University of Michigan, is leading the research.
Cellular reprogramming is the process of using a human cell and rewriting its genome to transform into an entirely different type of cell. The method can change a skin cell, for example, to a neuron, or blood cell or muscle cell, according to the National Center for Biotechnology Information and the National Institutes of Health. It can also reprogram cells to become more efficient or to repair or rejuvenate themselves. The process is accomplished using "transcription factor" proteins which are able to activate or deactivate certain genes within those cells which control operations such as growth, movement, replication and other activities.
By manipulating those transcription factors, Rajapakse found that wounds could heal more than five times fast than if left alone. Now, the Air Force wants to help him find how to apply that knowledge.
Rajapakse submitted a proposal to the Pentagon's research program to purchase a live cell imaging microscope, which can help gather data for an algorithm researchers say can mathematically identify when the best time is to intervene in an individual cell's cycle to heal wounds, according to the release.
The Department of Defense awarded Rajapakse a grant for research to improve on that algorithm.
A live cell imaging system in the Rajapakse lab purchased with AFOSR-funded Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) resources. A live cell imaging system in the Rajapakse lab purchased with AFOSR-funded Defense University Research Instrumentation Program (DURIP) resources. Photo credit Photo courtesy of Indika Rajapakse/University of Michigan/US Air Force "We have the resources to do this, and it is our obligation to take full advantage of them," he said.
The technology researchers are now working to develop could take the form of a "spray-on bandage" which would apply the transcription factors directly to wounds, converting any exposed deep muscle cells into skin cells aiming to heal the wound without resorting to skin graft procedures.
The Air Force saw an opportunity in Rajapakse's research to develop technology for "aeromedical environments" where the presence of unhealed wounds could increase a crew's "susceptibility to hypoxia and other altitude-related injuries," according to the release.
The Air Force Disruptive Technology Team, led by Col. Charles Bris-Bois, saw other uses for the technology, including burn healing, skin grafts and organ transplants.
The technology is far from ready to deploy, however. There is still much testing to be done, according to the release, particularly to find which transcription factors are needed to make the specific changes required to heal the wounds.
The research could lead to "innovative solutions for addressing our needs in the aeromedical operations and in future space environments," said Rajesh Naik, 711th Human Performance Wing chief scientist.
“Indika’s research is exactly the kind of breakthrough technology we’re looking for in Air Force Disruptive Technology,” Bris-Bois said, according to the release. “This shows the real promise of our efforts to bring warfighters and technologists together to imagine the possibilities of early scientific research.”
Sure, you can do all this stuff, but there’s no free lunch. Expect a visit from Oscar Goldman nagging you to start doing top-secret missions.
That could be a feature, not a bug?
Yeah
No thanky
I dont trust that people are smart enough to do this without unforseen, unpredictable, life-endangering side effects.
What would be safer are suits with built in tourniquets at key places, numbing agents for reducing pain and emergency surgery moves, and giving troops some surgical glue tubes to stop serious bleeds.
They reprogram our immune system to fight viruses.
They reprogram our cells to heal faster.
How long before they can reprogram brain cells?
I thought the thread was about trannies & snowflakes inside the USAF.
Bttt
They already tried and it worked out perfectly. However, to be fair there were not that many to reprogram to begin with.
What could possibly go wrong?
Why are so many automatically opposed to this?
I think it’s a great idea and if it works think of the lives it could save without a bunch of nasty scars and months of painful agony.
Geesh! Some of you all would scoff at Louis Pasteur and William Thomas Green Morton!
There is a huge contingent here who hate electric cars as well, There are plusses and minuses to all new technological breakthroughs.....
I’ve been binge watching Stargate SG-1, and this looks like something that they would have brought back.
We are being programmed via leftist outlets especially media and education. It’s everywhere ...
The leftist dream of “re-education camps” would be realized.
Six million today wouldn't build much of a super man.
If this works and is safe, it should not be developed for the military, but for humanity.
Finally, a cure for pimples.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.