The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded an MIT facility called the Foundry $32 million to perfect the engineering of living cells. Specifically, this involves the Foundry's on-going project called "Living Foundries: 1000 Molecules."
"We've been limited in our ability to program living cells to redesign these products -- for example, to program living cells to create materials as intricate as wood or seashells -- but with new properties. Rather, products from synthetic biology have been limited to small, simple organic molecules," Prof. Christopher Voigt, Foundry's founder, said in a press release.
DARPA's involvement in Foundry's research is expected to eliminate the limitations that Voight cited, effectively enabling the organization to manufacture DNA that can be written on living cells, including those in humans.
"The successful development of technologies for rapid introduction of large DNA vectors into human cell lines will enable the ability to engineer much more complex functionalities into human cell lines than are currently possible," Foundry explained in its proposal, which can be accessed in this link.
DARPA and the Foundry's partnership is widely seen to push synthetic biology to a new level. One of the expected applications of an engineered cell with a transplanted manufactured DNA is the treatment of diseases. DARPA, however, is known for its interest in developing new technologies for soldiers including the bioengineering of humans, according to Popular Science. Some could be concerned that its involvement in the Foundry's work could lead to the realization of the super soldier, one who is biologically altered and primed for combat.
