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Mahesh

14/09/22 13:49 PM IST

Renee Wegrzyn Slated to Lead New Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health

In News 
  • The US President Joe Biden appointed Dr Renee Wegrzyn as the inaugural director of the ARPA-H (Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health).
Dr Renee Wegrzyn 
  • Dr Renee Wegrzyn, a biologist and former government scientist, was appointed as the first ever director of the newly created Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health (ARPA-H).
  • The ARPA-H Director’s tenure would last for five years.
  • The purpose of the ARPA-H is to seek innovative solutions to biomedical problems.
  • It would support highly risky but rewarding researches in the life sciences.
  • It was established to emulate the US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), which had played a key role in the rapid development of defence technologies by awarding contracts to risky projects, which can be withdrawn abruptly if the researchers do not meet the desired milestone.
  • Dr Renee Wegrzyn served as the programme manager at the DARPA for more than 5 years, working in projects that used synthetic biology to counter infectious diseases and boost biosecurity.
  • Though ARPA-H has a new director, the agency’s foundational details are currently lacking.
  • The US Congress had allocated ARAP-H just 1 billion USD for 2022. The Biden Administration had requested a budget of 6.5 billion USD.
Source- The Hindu 

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