Pentagon medical researchers have created a microchip that detects COVID-19 when inserted under the skin.
Relax, conspiracy theorists – they’re not spread through vaccines.
The revolutionary technology was developed by the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, which operates under the Pentagon umbrella, according to the Sunday night broadcast of “60 Minutes”. The top secret unit was launched during the Cold War to study emerging technologies for military use, including innovations to defend soldiers against biological weapons.
Retired Army Colonel Dr. Matt Hepburn, an infectious disease physician, revealed that the microchip, which is not in widespread use outside of the Department of Defense, can detect COVID-19 in an individual well before a patient zero causes an outbreak.
“We challenge the research community to come up with solutions that may sound like science fiction,” said Hepburn, whose role at DARPA, he added, is to “get pandemics off the table.”
Hepburn compared their diagnostic microchip to a car’s ‘check engine’ warning.
Despite conspiracy theories claiming that Microsoft’s Bill Gates uses vaccines as a vehicle to insert a microscopic global positioning system into our bodies, “60 Minutes” clarified that DARPA’s chip would not “track all of your movements.” It’s also not managed through shots, as some potential Twitter sleuths have pondered.
“It’s a sensor,” Hepburn told CBS correspondent Bill Whitaker. “That little green thing in there, you put it under your skin and what that tells you is that chemical reactions are taking place in the body and that signal means that you will have symptoms tomorrow.”
The microchip, embedded in a tissue-like gel, is designed to continuously test the blood of the chip recipient for the presence of the virus. Once COVID-19 is detected, the chip will alert the patient to run a quick self-administered blood test to confirm the positive result.
“We have that information in three to five minutes,” said Hepburn. “As you shorten that time, as you diagnose and treat, you stop the infection in its path.”
The segment also unveiled technology that allows a standard dialysis machine to remove COVID-19 from the blood using a custom filter. Blood is passed through the machine, where it is detoxified, and then pumped back into the body in a continuous stream until the body is rid of the virus.
A military spouse named “Patient 16” survived a severe attack of the disease, including organ failure and septic shock, thanks to the new dialysis machine. The treatment lasted four days, after which patient 16 made a full recovery.
DARPA scientists say their research is critical to preventing outbreaks in busy military districts, such as the one that occurred on the USS Theodore Roosevelt in March and April 2020, where 1,271 crew members tested positive for the coronavirus.
Pentagon researchers are continuing to study COVID-19, and much of their research has been critical in stopping the pandemic, including new methods for detecting and developing antibodies in about 10 weeks – a fraction of the six to 24 months prior to that. were needed.
They hope eventually to close the gap between new disease detection and vaccine development.
Ultimately, DARPA scientist Dr. James Crowe, “We would assume a blood sample from a survivor … and give you an injection of the cure within 60 days.”
“For us at DARPA, if the experts make fun of you and say it’s impossible, you’re in the right place,” said Hepburn.