Those who are seriously injured should be transported to a hospital as soon as possible. This is because the time it takes to transport a patient to hospital is a crucial factor in a patient's chance of survival. A new project by the US Department of Defence's Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) therefore focuses on slowing down biological systems in the human body, with the aim of making more time available to transport patients to a hospital.
DARPA's programme is called Biostasis and focuses on extending what is called the 'golden hour' or 'golden hour': the first hour after a patient suffers a serious injury or infection. If a patient is transported to a medical facility within this hour, it significantly increases the patient's chance of survival. DARPA is specifically focusing within the Biostasis project on increasing the survival rate of soldiers injured on the battlefield. However, the project could also provide interesting developments for 'ordinary' people and increase their chance of survival after a serious accident or infection.
Soldiers cannot always be evacuated immediately
The US military has long invested in developments that increase the survival rate of wounded soldiers. These developments are almost all aimed at reducing the time it takes to transport a soldier to a medical facility. On the battlefield, however, all sorts of factors can complicate the transport of soldiers to a hospital. For instance, it can be very challenging to evacuate wounded soldiers if they are engaged in a firefight, or it can be difficult for medical personnel to safely reach soldiers in hostile territory.
The Biostasis programme therefore focuses on extending the golden hour so that more time becomes available to transport soldiers to a medical facility. In doing so, DARPA aims to use molecular biology to develop new ways to slow down biological systems in the human body. If successful, this could extend the time between when a soldier suffers a serious injury and when a biological system in the soldier's body fails. "In essence, the concept aims to delay life with the goal of saving lives," DARPA writes on its website.
'Life is a series of continuous biochemical reactions'
"At the molecular level, life is a series of continuous biochemical reactions, and a characteristic feature of these reactions is that they require a catalyst to act at all," explains Tristan McClure-Begley, programme manager of the Biostasis programme. "In a cell, these catalysts are present in the form of proteins or large molecular machines that convert chemical and kinetic energy into biological processes. Our goal with Biostasis is to manage these molecular machines and slow them all down at the same rate, so that we can gracefully slow down the entire system and prevent adverse effects once this intervention is reversed or reduced."
The programme investigates different ways to slow down biochemical processes in living cells. DARPA hopes to develop a variety of methods in the programme, ranging from simple treatments such as administering antibodies to more holistic treatments targeting whole cells or tissues. All methods being developed should result in all measurable biological functions in a human body being slowed down with minimal damage to cellular processes if biological functions are restored.
Slowing down cellular processes simultaneously
The DARPA calls it vital that all cellular processes are slowed down by the same level, since in many cases processes influence each other and depend on each other. As an example, the institute cites cellular respiration, which is crucial for several cellular processes. If cellular respiration is slowed down, however, this does not mean that other related cellular processes also automatically slow down. However, if these related processes are not slowed down to the same extent in a timely manner, such an intervention may cause cells to die.
The institute is therefore looking for biochemical methods to influence cell energy at the protein level. Proteins, according to DARPA, are the workhorses of cell functions. In nature, several examples can be found of organisms using protein to survive under extreme conditions. One example is bear bugs, small animals that live in humid environments. Bear creatures can freeze, become almost completely dehydrated and tolerate extreme amounts of radiation, among other things. Another example is the forest frog, which can be completely frozen for a period of several days.
Nature as inspiration
"Nature in a source of inspiration," McClure-Begley said. "If we manage to find the best ways to strengthen other biological systems and reduce the likelihood that they will fall into an uncontrollable downward spiral after being damaged, we will have a significant extension to the biological toolbox on our hands."
The Biostasis programme will run for five years. Initially, the programme should lead to proof-of-concept technologies, which will then be tested on simple living organisms. To eventually make these technologies suitable for application to humans, DARPA is working with US health and regulatory authorities. Once the duration of the programme is up, DARPA hopes to have several tools in hand to reduce the risk of permanent injury or death after a serious injury or infection.
Author: Wouter Hoeffnagel
Source: DARPA
Photo: Pixabay / mattthewafflecat
