Red Blood Cell Factory (RBC-Factory)

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) is soliciting innovative proposals in support of the Red Blood Cell Factory program (RBC-Factory). RBC-Factory will create a medical device-based platform to insert additional biologically active components (e.g., cargos) into human red blood cells (RBCs) and assess the ethical, legal, and social impacts (ELSI) of the device(s) for cargo insertion and the mRBCs, respectively.

RBCs with cargos (aka modified red blood cells; mRBCs) that are reintroduced into a host will endow the recipient with additional protections and/or performance maintenance thus allowing warfighters to operate more effectively in dangerous or extreme environments. RBC-Factory will produce a prototype device and knowledge about the parameter space (e.g., molecular weight, size, mass-to-charge, viscosity, hydrophobicity, etc.) for cargos that can be added to create mRBCs.