BASIC OPERATIONAL MEDICAL SCIENCE
The Basic Operational Medical Science Program Element (PE) will explore and develop basic research in medical-related information and technology leading to fundamental discoveries, tools, and applications critical to overcoming DoW challenges. This PE will address the Department's identified need for warfighter medical care related to prevention and treatment of infectious disease, real-time healthcare interventions of acute and chronic illness and injury, and interventions for improved warfighter resilience and performance against operational stressors. This PE also supports innovation and robust transition planning in the technology cycle by working with entrepreneurs to increase the likelihood that DARPA-funded technologies take root in the U.S. and provide new capabilities for national defense. Beginning in FY 2026, efforts in this PE will be funded in PE 0601122E, Emerging Opportunities.
FY2025 accomplishments - Demonstrated that developed countermeasures are non-toxic and do not produce a response from the immune system in the host. - Demonstrated that developed countermeasures prevent pathogen growth and increase host survival after exposure to single fungal and bacterial pathogens. - Demonstrated that countermeasures inhibit abnormal inflammatory response following blood stream infection of bacterial and fungal pathogens. - Initiated validation of countermeasures' ability to prevent pathogen growth and increase host survival in single fungal and single bacterial pathogen exposures.
FY2025 accomplishments - Developed appropriate biological models and implemented systems and profiling techniques for interrogating multiple model systems of anesthesia. - Initiated studies for anesthetic target discovery associated with analgesia, loss of consciousness, and immobility. - Developed the computational infrastructure required for analysis and prioritization of cellular/molecular target space. - Defined target profile effects that are associated with current anesthetic interventions. - Initiated studies for multi-system, multi-organism physiological computational modeling to guide drug design and medicinal chemistry.
FY2025 accomplishments - Initiated experiments to generate a baseline dataset for biomarker sensitivity response in a laboratory. - Developed experiments to generate a baseline dataset for biomarker sensitivity response in animal models.
FY2025 accomplishments - Initiated investigation of new approaches and combinations to develop baseline simulations for individual cells. - Initiated development of simulations for individual cells and collection of data to support cell simulations. - Began performing experiments to validate simulations of fundamental biological processes and responses to stimuli or stress. - Began design of simulation pressure tests for tailored DoW use cases.
FY2025 accomplishments - Continued in vivo safety and specificity studies of developed medical countermeasures against selected pathogens. - Continued and expanded independent verification and validation studies to facilitate transition to intragovernmental partners. - Established Good-Laboratory Practice (GLP) compliant models to assess safety of developed countermeasures in support of future Investigational New Drug Application.
FY2025 accomplishments - Performed biospecimen collection and analysis to identify gut-derived biomolecules and metabolites in regulating sleep and arousal states. - Identified potential molecular pathways or mechanisms of host interactions with the gut microbiome that are associated with the restorative effect of sleep on cognitive performance in an animal model. - Demonstrated release of pathogen-targeting probiotic in an animal model from a fully integrated device. - Demonstrated release of therapy from a fully integrated device to regulate circadian rhythm in an animal model. - Manufactured fully integrated devices to regulate circadian rhythm in animal models.
FY2025 accomplishments - Collected data and identified candidate biobehavioral signatures of warfighter and team performance. - Demonstrated ability to measure and characterize identified signatures rapidly, reliably, and accurately during team training sessions. - Initiated development of predictive models for biobehavioral signature validation. - Identified two additional use cases to assess generalizability of biobehavioral signatures and predictive models.