There isn’t a whole lot chemicals can do for you if you decide to jump on a grenade
to save your army buddies. But what modern chemistry and genetics might be able to do,
at least some day, is turn you from skinny private into Captain America.
First off, let’s not call what Steve Rogers was injected with a “serum,” that’s
usually some milky yellow mixture that can be isolated from blood that’s not plasma,
although calling it a super serum does sound cool—wait this kinda looks like pee, can we change that?
Next, we need to know what Super-Soldier juice—that doesn’t sound right at all—Super-Soldier
FORMULA actually does.
In the Marvel universe, the first Super-Soldier formula was created as a part of Operation:
Rebirth by scientist Abraham Erskine, and was given intravenously to Steve Rogers. After
administration, Rogers was placed in a vita-ray chamber and was bombarded with radiation.
He emerged not super-human, but at the absolute peak of possible human performance.
We don’t know what was exactly in this formula, but we can speculate based on the effects
it produces in Cap. Whatever it was, it would have to mess with Cap’s genes.
Dr. Sebastian Alvarado, who you might recognize from my video on the Hulk’s hue, has a theory
about this too and it’s based on the fact that we actually know what genes in our DNA
are associated with things like muscle growth and how much oxygen our blood can carry.
So, if we could inject him with a formula that suppresses certain genes and hyper-activates
other ones, we could induce something like Cap’s amazing transformation.
As Dr. Alvarado points out, one way to have the Super-Soldier formula seek out and change
a part of Captain’s DNA would be with the technique, something like “CRISPR,” or
“clustered regularly interspaced short palindromic repeats”. It’s a way to add or delete
information from our genetic blueprint.
The CRISPR technique is based on how bacteria protect themselves from viruses. When viral
DNA is detected, the bacteria sends out two single strands of RNA and then using a protein
called Cas9, locates a section of that DNA with the same code. The RNA then locks on
to that piece and cuts it there, disabling it.
Scientists then figured out that this same process could be used to add or delete genetic
information from any organism, including humans. The CRISPR technique could cut DNA, deactivating
some gene but it could also cut DNA and provide another copy, a mutated copy of that gene
to change the way that it’s expressed.
Since we know what genes are associated with things like muscle growth and athletic performance,
using a technique like CRISPR could feasibly beef up Steve Rogers.
But the secret Super-Soldier program has no time for lengthy clinical trials and incremental
improvements. That’s where the so-called “vita-rays” come in.
Researchers are still tinkering with this technique, but light-activated drug delivery
systems are something that we’re looking into. The idea is that first some nano-scale
material would house some drug or medicine.
Then when hit with a certain wavelength of light, these materials would open up in some
way and deliver their drugs inside to a patient at a specific place in their body or at a
specific time .
If Steve Rogers was injected with some gene-editing formula inside some light-activated nano-materials,
then feasibly the Super-Soldier formula and vita-chamber could work in tandem to create
the perfect soldier. But that kind of work is decades away. Why? Because Science.
Hail Hydra.
Want more science? Check out my last video on how Daredevil can fight crime without being able to see
Subscribe to Nerdist for more videos. If you want Because Science two days earlier than anyone else
subscribe to Vessel at vessel.com/nerdist. And as always if you have any comments or questions,
hit me up in the comments section below. Thanks!