Chip that Mimics Human Organs May End Animal Testing with its New Design

First Posted: Jun 24, 2015 07:52 AM EDT

It could be an end to animal testing. Scientists have created a human organs-on-chips that can determine how organs might react to certain drugs.

The Organs-On-Chips are similar to what they sound like. They're essentially microchips embedded with hollow, microfluidic tubes that are lined with human cells. Through these tubes, air, nutrients, blood and infection-causing bacteria can be pumped. This allows researchers to see how the "organs" will react.

"This is the epitome of design innovation," said Paola Antonelli, design curator at New York's Museum of Modern Art, who nominated the chip for the Design of the Year award, with an interview with the Guardian. "Removing some of the pitfalls of human and animal testing means, theoretically, that drug trials could be conducted faster and their viable results disseminated more quickly."

The Organs-on-Chips are designed to test drugs and cosmetics. They're also meant to test treatments for infections and inherited diseases.

"The team of scientists that produced this remarkable object don't come from a conventional design background," said Deyan Sudjic, Design Museum director, in an interview with DeZeen magazine. "But what they have done is clearly a brilliant piece of design. They identified a serious problem; how do we predict how human cells will behave, and they solved it with elegance and economy of means, putting technology from apparently unrelated fields to work in new ways."

The new design, which has won the Design of the Year award, could be huge for testing purposes in the future. In fact, it could help eliminate animal testing and could open up new paths to better understanding how drugs impact humans.