Is DARPA going to make mutants?

[Vulgar]

http://www.darpa.mil/Our_Work/DSO/Pr...ns_(CLIO).aspx

If you're all familiar with DARPA... if curious, see their videos on Youtube of robots, cheetah-bots, surveillance bots, and also the predator drone is a DARPA invention... @Nigma @Edgar AlPo @detour @NYCSPITZ

Chyeah, you may be interested in this program called "Plan X" http://www.darpa.mil/NewsEvents/Rele...012/10/17.aspx

Chronicle of Lineage Indicative of Origins (CLIO)

Recent innovations in biotechnology have significantly reduced the cost, time, infrastructure and level of training required to manipulate genetic code and alter the behavior of an organism. Numerous defense missions could benefit from the resulting biotechnology capabilities, but prior to developing and fielding these capabilities, the Department of Defense must establish robust and enduring control features. These technologies are required to enable the public to reap the rewards of these advances while maintaining U.S. strategic technological advantage and minimizing the medical and environmental risk in the case of accidental or intentional misuse.

The Chronicle of Lineage Indicative of Origins (CLIO) program aims to use recent advances in synthetic biology to develop genomic and proteomic capabilities that promote safe, secure biological research, protect intellectual property and prevent unwanted release of microorganisms. To encourage user adoption and ensure the maintenance of CLIO systems, control and security capabilities will be designed to have little or no impact on the fitness of host organisms.

The CLIO program includes three tracks of research and development to support these goals:
◦The Gene Guards track seeks to develop technologies to ensure the safe handling of pathogenic organisms and prevent the adverse manipulation of these pathogens (i.e., addition of virulence factors, immune modulators or antibiotic-resistant genes).
◦The Attribution track seeks to develop technologies that protect intellectual property in the microbial genome and that can be analyzed to authenticate ownership and true origin.
◦The Memory track seeks to develop persistent encoding systems that document and record the chronology, nature of manipulation and environmental conditions in an organism’s genome.

If successful, CLIO will establish enduring control elements that protect against intentionally harmful genetic engineering, prevent illegal acquisition or misuse of proprietary strains, provide novel forensic tools to assist in the investigation of biological incidents and allow responsible investigators to document compliance with safe biological manipulation practices. The program will advance the field of synthetic biology with new insight into the design and behavior of biological systems.

Interesting stuff. We are indeed in a new age.