DARPA Awards Contract to CellThera for Tissue Restoration

(MoneyWatch)  The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) awarded CellThera a follow on contract to continue their efforts at developing tissue regeneration. Medical News Today reports that the contract is worth $570 thousand and is for one year with an option. This contract will allow the Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) affiliated company to continue work they started under a previous contract. The goal of the research is to engineer cells to restore muscles cells with some functionality. This research is part of a DARPA program to develop new therapies for injured soldiers. Obviously this research will also have significant impact on civilian health care as well if it is successful. DARPA is the part of DoD that funds more exotic and risky research in a whole host of different technologies. Ideally it seeds this through a variety of sized companies across the U.S. The DoD also has a program to harness its research for civil applications that has had some benefits in the past. For instance the ubiquitous computer mouse was a DARPA invention as is the Internet.