21 July
The US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) has awarded a contract to Duality Technologies to develop a privacy-preserving Machine Learning (ML) capability for Covid-19 research. The development is based on a privacy-enhancing technology, Homomorphic Encryption (HE). The new machine learning capability will run on encrypted data and enable researchers to build predictive models by gathering sensitive clinical and genomic data from several healthcare institutions. Duality has partnered with Harvard Medical School and Two Six Labs to support Genome-Wide Association Studies (GWAS) related to Covid-19 research.
US Air Force (USAF) airmen at Travis Air Force Base (AFB) in California have successfully conducted the first Indo-Pacific aeromedical evacuation mission. It represented USAF’s first Transport Isolation System (TIS) mission in support of the US Indo-Pacific Command area of responsibility. A Covid-19 patient from the Indo-Pacific region was transported to get medical care at David Grant USAF Medical Center on Travis AFB. The patient was an active-duty service member. The airlift support was conducted by the 775th Expeditionary Aeromedical Evacuation Flight using 21st Airlift Squadron’s C-17 Globemaster III aircraft. The C-130H Hercules, the C-130J Super Hercules and the C-17 aircraft are currently capable of carrying the TIS capsules.
North Carolina Army National Guard’s 449th Theater Aviation Brigade is working with state agencies and local food banks to help feed citizens during Covid-19. Guardsmen assigned to the 2-130th Airfield Operations Battalion and the 1-130th Attack Reconnaissance Battalion worked together in supporting the initiative. Guardsmen along with volunteers from veteran disaster relief service organisation Team Rubicon, non-profit organisation Action Pathways and the Second Harvest Food Bank Southeast distributed meals and fresh produce.