Scientists at Harvard University, along with the Defense
Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), have developed new microchips that
allow researchers to trial new drugs. These microchips are supposed to mimic
the human organs, and give researchers useful feedback.
The chips, which are about the size of an USB stick, contain
fluid channels and live human cells. They do not resemble at all the shape and
size of the actual human organs that they want to mimic. However, scientists
are able to detect and study the reaction of the fluids and live human cells
inside. It is too early to say whether the predictions made on these chips will
be valid and reliable scientifically. However, what we know is that scientists
have been able to observe that the chips have replicated the same reaction that
mice, rats and dogs have had to the drug they were testing. The researchers
have already developed chips resembling a heart, a lung and an intestine and
are in the process of creating many more.
As aforementioned, inasmuch as this is an
interesting mode of testing, it is important to be cautious. In fact, it would
be too early to conclude that this will be the new way of testing drugs. This
is both because healthcare officials have not approved such methods of research
yet, and because the scientists themselves feel that they still need testing on
animals to get complete results. However maybe in a few years, these techniques
will be developed and the chips will be able to resemble more and more the
conditions, tissues and fluid canals present in our bodies, thereby making the
testing sessions much more accurate. In any case, it will be interesting to see
how this type of analysis will develop. You can read more here.