The US military’s Defense Advance Research Projects Agency (Darpa) says they may have a method to stop all infectious diseases - including Ebola. By encoding RNA and DNA in a specific way, Darpa say a person could simply go into a shop and get an injection to protect them against a disease. This could be used to prevent mass outbreaks in affected areas. US military's Darpa has developed a method to stop infectious diseases. It involves encoding RNA and DNA with instructions for antibodies. A person could then be injected with the antibodies at a pharmacy (stock image shown). This enables a person's cells to fight an infectious disease . ‘We’re going to take the genetic code and put it into a format where you go to your drug store or doctor and get a shot in the arm,’ said Darpa programme manager Dan Wattendorf at an event in San Francisco, reported Fusion. RNA stands for ribonucleic acid. It is one of three important molecules that are essential for all known forms of life - as well as proteins and lipids. RNA is formed from strings of nucleic acids, the same building blocks that create DNA. Genetic information in a cell flows from DNA through RNA to proteins. DNA is considered the 'blueprint' of the cell and RNA is what helps translate it. Some life, like viruses, only use RNA and it is thought that some of the earliest organisms on Earth used this molecule. Proteins are considered to be the workhorses of the cell built up from strings of amino acids. These carry out the biochemical reactions that take place in the cell and make life tick. Lipids are fatty molecules that line up in formation that can create protective vesicles. They form the membrane 'walls' of every living cell and give them structure. They are also essential for sending signals out of the cell. ‘There’s a low-cost of goods, no cold chain, and we would produce the correct antibody in [any] individual directly.’ The method works by creating powerful antibodies from survivors of an infectious disease. ‘Instructions’ on how to make these antibodies are then encoded into RNA and DNA, which are injected into people who might come into contact with the disease. Their cells then start creating the antibodies, protecting them from catching the potentially dangerous disease. Darpa is currently funding the project through Emory University in Atlanta. Experts say the method, if proven to be safe and effective, would be faster and cheaper than conventional drug production and could potentially be used to treat illnesses such as seasonal flu or malaria. Antibodies are typically grown in large vats of mammal cells or in some cases, tobacco plants, such as US pharmaceutical company Mapp Biopharmaceutical's experimental Ebola treatment ZMapp. Experts say the method, if proven to be safe and effective, would be faster and cheaper than conventional drug production and could potentially be used to treat illnesses such as seasonal flu, malaria and Ebola. Shown is a transmission electron micrograph (Tem) image of the Ebola virus . Infectious diseases, such as Ebola and West Nile virus, will rapidly spread to new areas as a result of global warming. This is according to zoologist, Professor Daniel Brooks, who warned last month that humans can expect to face new illnesses as climate change brings crops, livestock, and humans into contact with pathogens. Professor Brooks says it will be 'the death of a thousand cuts' with society unable to keep up with the speed of disease as it spreads around the world. 'It's not that there's going to be one "Andromeda Strain" that will wipe everybody out on the planet,' Professor Brooks said, referring to the 1971 science fiction film about a deadly pathogen. 'There are going to be a lot of localised outbreaks that put a lot of pressure on our medical and veterinary health systems.' Darpa has awarded Emory up to £7.3 million ($10.8 million) over three years to direct the project. Emory is using blood samples from the Ebola outbreak in West Africa to test the method. Initially, the technology was being developed in hopes of protecting soldiers from seasonal flu or germs that cause diarrhea on the battlefield, but the Ebola outbreak presented an opportunity to accelerate the research. To succeed, researchers will need to identify an effective delivery system to carry the genetic instructions into the body and learn how to quickly identify the most protective antibodies. The goal is to get the process down to 90 days for most diseases. The group is in the process of characterising several Ebola antibody candidates to find which are the most potent. At that point, the researchers and Darpa will seek out drug company partners. Testing in people could begin within two years, with the goal of having a better weapon for the next outbreak - whatever it may be.
US military's Darpa has developed a method to stop infectious diseases . It involves encoding RNA and DNA with instructions for antibodies . A person could then be injected with the antibodies at a pharmacy . This enables a person's cells to fight an infectious disease . It could be used to prevent mass outbreaks, such as Ebola . Testing in people is expected to begin in two years .