ScientistsDesignChipstoActLikeHumanOrgans.docVIP

Scientists Design Chips to Act Like Human Organs By Jonathan Evans21 October, 2014 Testing new drugs for safety and effectiveness is a costly process in the United States. It also can take a lot of time. Some scientists are now designing?silicon?computer chips that act like human organs. The scientists think they have found a way to make the process faster and more economical. The silicon chips are smaller than a childs hand. Each one has living cells that act and react like a human organ. The chips are being created as part of a program to test the safety of drug compounds. It is called the?Tissue Chip for Drug Screening Program. It is a project of the US National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, or NCATS. Danilo Tagle is the centers Associate Director. He says a three-dimensional computer chip can be designed to act like a human lung. He describes how such a device would operate. In that case, it would be cells representing the air sacs, that would be represented on these bioengineered devices and allowing it to breathe and expand, and be able to take in air, take in fluids just like a normal lung would. In the case of a heart, it would be representing the heart muscles and be able to show contractibility and regular beating of the heart muscles. Some computer chips contain very small?models?of the human digestive system. They copy the real function or duties of the human stomach and intestine, moving when breaking down food. Drugs are added to the tiny organs for testing through instruments known as micro-tubes. Experiments with the tissue chips have produced more detailed information than tests using animal or cell models. A neurovascular unit on a chip being developed by Vanderbilt University researchers. Vanderbilt University Photo/John Wikswo NCATS just announced $17 million in?grants?to develop an entire human organ system over the next three years. Researchers at Columbia University are working on a project that would combine models of the h