Alternatives to animal testing are finally taking off
Biomedical research is shifting toward non-animal testing methods, such as 'organ-on-a-chip' technology, which models human biology more accurately than traditional animal models. These innovations are gaining traction as they provide more reliable data for drug development and chemical testing.
Why it matters
Reducing reliance on animal testing addresses both ethical concerns and scientific limitations, potentially accelerating the development of safer and more effective human therapeutics.
Changing habits may be the hardest engineering challenge of all
Vertical Lab rats have long been a mainstay of biomedical research and drug development. N ow, technologies such as Emulate’s Lung-on-a-Chip aim to model human biology without relying on animals.
Seventeen years ago, cell biologist Donald Ingber and his colleagues at Harvard University’s Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering submitted a paper to the journal Science describing their model human lung. It was smaller than a USB stick and made of a clear polymer slab containing narrow channels, which were lined with the type of cells that line a lung’s air sacs and blood vessels. When air was pumped through hollow chambers beside the channels, the device rhythmically expanded and contracted—it “breathed.”
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