DARPA在重大传染病领域部署颠覆性技术的特点与启示

Characteristics and Enlightenment of DARPA’s Deployment of Disruptive Technologies in Major Infectious Diseases

预防大流行疫情和防御生物威胁是美国国防安全的优先事项之一,美国国防高级研究计划局(Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency,DARPA)持续部署应对未来重大传染病的颠覆性技术研发。本文以DARPA 2011—2020年在重大传染病领域部署的相关项目为研究对象,梳理项目目标、项目投入及其涉及的主要颠覆性技术等内容,进而分析DARPA在该领域部署颠覆性技术的特点。研究发现,DARPA在传染病领域部署了基因编辑、RNA疫苗、中和抗体、环境中微量病原物检测等多种颠覆性技术。从2016年起,DARPA在该领域部署的项目明显增多,在项目设置上更加关注重大传染病的早期防控;研发重点以预防为主,在诊断和预防方面共设立了9个项目;致力于投资传染病领域基础研究和技术开发的早期阶段,并加速和扩大工程学、信息科学在生物领域的应用。对此,提出了启示建议,包括:加大对重大传染病领域重点技术的部署与投入;加强对颠覆性技术的识别、预测与协同部署;加强对大规模生物恐怖威胁的监测及防御;促进军民两用技术转移,同时加强两用技术的管理与监控。

Preventing pandemic and defending against biological threats is one of the priorities of U.S.defense security.The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency(DARPA)continues to deploy disruptive technology research and development to deal with major infectious diseases in the future.This paper takes the relevant projects deployed by DARPA in the field of major infectious diseases from 2011 to 2020 as the research object,combs the project objectives,project investment and the main disruptive technologies involved,and then analyzes the characteristics of DARPA’s deployment of disruptive technologies in this field.The study found that DARPA deployed a variety of disruptive technologies in the field of infectious diseases,such as gene editing,RNA vaccine,neutralizing antibody,detection of trace pathogens in the environment and so on.Since 2016,DARPA has significantly increased the number of projects deployed in this field and paid more attention to the early prevention and control of major infectious diseases;focuses on prevention,and a total of 9 projects have been set up in diagnosis and prevention;It is committed to investing in the early stage of basic research and technology development in the field of infectious diseases,and accelerating and expanding the application of engineering and Information Science in the biological field.In this regard,some suggestions are put forward,including:increasing the deployment and investment of key technologies in the field of major infectious diseases;Strengthen the identification,prediction and collaborative deployment of disruptive technologies;Strengthen the monitoring and defense against the threat of large-scale bioterrorism;Promote the transfer of dual-use technologies and strengthen the management and monitoring of dual-use technologies.