WASHINGTON (NewsNation) — The Biden administration announced the launch of a new research project that aims to develop new tools that will strengthen immune systems and save lives, specifically aimed at fighting cancer.
The project, “Curing the Uncurable via RNA-Encoded Immunogene Tuning” (CUREIT), aims to create generalized mRNA tools that can be used to train the immune system to more effectively fight cancer and other diseases, the press release said.
The mRNA platforms would be able to prompt immune cells to target and attack tumors. Variations of the tools could extend to fighting autoimmune disorders, transplants and infectious diseases.
mRNA research has peaked since its success with the COVID-19 vaccines, which used the technology to instruct human DNA to produce cells to fight the coronavirus without the vaccine actually containing the virus itself.
“Over the past few years, COVID-19 vaccines developed using mRNA technology have saved millions of lives around the world. These therapies … represent the power of American ingenuity and innovation,” President Joe Biden said in a statement.
Basically, the goal of mRNA technology is to train the immune system to be more effective against diseases.
Led by a team at Emory University in Atlanta, Georgia, the program will receive up to $24 million in new funding from the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H), the White House said.
“This is a bold endeavor that has the potential to transform the fight against cancer and other difficult diagnoses,” Biden said.