"It's going to be a long time before you replace animal models," Ingber agreed, "but it's the first step towards building in that direction -- we're able to recapitulate complex functions."
Ingber and his colleagues are working on something more comprehensive, too. By using assorted body-part chips, they hope to eventually construct a 'human on a chip' -a medium which will be perfect for testing and advance the efficacy of medicine by leaps and bounds.
"Who would have thought 15 years ago the microchip industry would lead in this direction?" Ingber wondered. "It's a great of example of where engineering, biology, and medicine are beginning to merge."
It's so easy to save a life.You can be sure someone will thank you.
Read more: New lab-grown lungs - The Scientist - Magazine of the Life Sciences http://www.the-scientist.com/blog/display/57511/#ixzz0sAn7kPZ9
Living, breathing human lung-on-a-chip: A potential drug-testing alternative http://wyss.harvard.edu/viewpressrelease/36/living-breathing-human-lungonachip-a-potential-drugtesting-alternative
Tissue Engineered Lungs for In Vivo Transplantation: http://www.sciencemag.org/cgi/content/abstract/science.1189345
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