- Investment in this kind

of technology has been going on for years.

All with one goal.

To protect the soldiers, protecting us.

- What we do is we say, well,the science is interesting

but we're translating that.

We're translating that intoapplication and benefit.

And it's something, frankly,I think the Department

of Defense does really, really well.

We can see science, butwe say, we have mission.

We have a national security mission.

- [Caitlin] In March of 2020,

the USS Theodore Roosevelt made headlines

when more than a thousand sailors

on board tested positive for COVID-19.

For two months, the outbreak kept the ship

and its crew of 4,800 sailors

from their mission ofdefending our nation.

Dr. Matthew Hepburn says he'sdevoted his entire career

to prevent that from ever happening again.

- What we want to do is,detect an infection as early

as possible before someone even spreads it

to another person to tryto prevent that infection

in the first place.

So that it never happens.

But if it does, we detect and treat

and what we also might want to do is

then make sure everybodyelse is protected.

- [Caitlin] That dreamnow appears possible.

Thanks to this tiny hydro gel biosensor.

Placed under the skin,

it measures what's goingon at a tissue level.

For example, the amountof lactate in your body.

- The level of lactate

at the tissue level isa really good indicator

that someone is starting to get sick.

It's one of those things thatwe see go up pretty early

in severe infection, called sepsis.

- [Caitlin] The sensor doesn't identify

what infection you might have.

It's more of an alert.

Hepburn compares it toa check engine light.

- Like a check engine light doesn't say

that there's a problem, you're out of oil

or something like that.

It just says there's something wrong.

There may be somethingwrong with your engine.

So take a closer look.

So the idea of the sensor ischeck engine light goes off.

Then you need to dosome more specific tests

to figure out if you haveCOVID or something else wrong.

- [Caitlin] This nextgeneration technology

was invented by Profusa.

The private sector company created it

to help treat diabetes.

Now through a partnership withthe Department of Defense,

the sensor has been developed

for a number of other purposes.

Besides detecting infection,

it can also measure oxygen levels.

- [Dr. Hepburn] So youcan think of like a pilot.

You'd want to know tissue level hypoxia

or low oxygen as an early signal

that you're not gettingenough oxygen to your tissues.

- Currently in clinical trials, this,

like all other vaccinesand treatments provided

by the Department of Defensemust get FDA approval.

This one appears to be well onits way to that achievement.

Caitlin Burke, CBN news.