Important Innovations

Bioengineering ReVector Program Source:  DARPA Protecting US Forces Against Mosquitos The US Defense Department's Advanced Research Projects Agency DARPA has a unique approach to thwarting mosquitos and the dangerous diseases like malaria that they transmit.  With its ReVector program, DARPA wants to develop safe and precise technologies that change the metabolism of the human skin to thwart mosquitos. Easy to Use, Topical Solution DARPA says that mosquitos present one of the biggest health risks out there to deployed troops.  They want to apply bioengineering tools to develop a simple, easy to apply topical solution to prevent mosquitos from biting. Of course, there would be no harmful side effects to the soldiers. The goal is to protect soldiers for two weeks per application. The research program just began.  If DARPA is able to achieve its goal, the solution would have potential global use as malaria continues to spread.

Genetically Putting Mosquitos on Self-Destruct Africa's Malaria-Endemic Countries DNA Editing Malaria is among the world's worst scourges.  In Africa in 2016, 194 million people were infected by malaria and nearly half a million died from it.  The deadly disease is caused by a parasite and transmitted by mosquito bites. Imperial College London Biologists A team of biologists at Imperial College London may have the weapon to end the scourge.  They've successfully gene-edited mosquitos to self-destruct.  They've targeted a patch of DNA that never varies.  By gene editing the female mosquitos into infertility, the population becomes extinct within 5 to 11 generations. Potential:  Malaria Eliminated within 2 Decades If this gene editing is as successful as lab tests have been, the scientists believe malaria could be eliminated within 2 decades.  Computer models indicate that in the wild mosquito populations could be made extinct by the techn...

Researchers in India May Have Developed Medicine to Kill Malaria Hope for a Cure It's one of the worst and deadliest scourges impacting mankind.  Malaria afflicts 212 million people globally every year and causes 4.29 million deaths.  Until now it has been an intractable human disease.  But now there is hope. University of Hyderabad Scientists' New Medicine A group of scientists at the University of Hyderabad in India have developed a medicine that effectively kills the parasite infection in red blood cells that's triggered by malaria.  It's a polymer based nanomedicine developed by a research group led by Dr. Pradip Paik, Associate Professor of the School of Engineering and Technology at the University of Hyderabad in Telangana, India. Breakthrough Medicine Now Going into Animal Trials The medicine is very effective in killing the deadly malaria parasite, which triggers plasmodium falciparum infections in the body's red blood cells.  It's now going in...