Organs-On-Chips Could Replace Animal Subjects in Biomedical Testing

There's good news for animal rights advocates. A new microchip, which can mimic the structure and function of complete organs, may render future testing on animal subjects obsolete.

Organs-On-Chips is a microchip that is embedded with microfluidic tubes lined with human cells. They are manufactured much like chips that serve as the brains of computers, yet these enable researchers to test pharmaceuticals on various organ tissues without relying on whole organisms.

Lung-on-a-Chip -- Wyss Institute from Wyss Institute on Vimeo.

The chip was introduced by a team from Harvard in 2010. The chip can replace various organs by simply lining it with specific cells, such as alveolar tissue from the lungs, or renal tissue from kidneys. The chip mimics the mechanics of the tissues and can be observed as various drugs are applied and its translucent design allows researchers to actually observe reactions on a microscale.

The goal of the chip is to lessen the dependence on animal subjects, which would be welcome news for those advocating on behalf of research animals. Recently, the Endangered Species Act was expanded to protect captive chimps used in biomedical research. The idea of shifting to technology to provide research subjects could not only enable drug companies to move away from using animals in their research, but would also be far more cost effective.

Researchers from Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have started a company called Emulate, which is partnering with companies like Johnson & Johnson to design pre-clinical trials using the chip.

And in a strange case of science merging with art, the chip was put on display as part of the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection and was recently named Design of the Year by London's Design Museum.