Jame Hickman, lead researcher. (via University of Central Florida)
Like bioware from some cyberpunk novel, University of Central Florida (UCF) researchers push ever closer to a "human-on-a-chip." The team's first step to making this a reality was completed by growing a neuromuscular junction between muscle and spinal cord using stem cells. The goal is to eventually create a system that interconnects tiny versions of human organ in the exact way the body operates, which sounds grot.
UCF bioengineer leading the research, James Hickman, elaborates, "It's taken many trials over a number of years to get this to occur using human derived stem cells... These types of systems have to be developed if you ever want to get to a human-on-a-chip that recreates human function."
Stem cells can be coaxed to form specific types of cells. In this experiment, muscle stem were collected from an adult volunteer. After much tinkering with the cell concentrations, time scales of development, among other parameters, the correct junction cells were created. Research processor performing the experiments Nadine Guo related why it is important, "Right now we rely a lot on animal systems for medical research but this is a pure human system. This work proved that, biologically, this is workable."
When the human-on-a-chip system is finished, the time from conception of a new drug to human use will be accelerated beyond practice today. The chip will sidestep animal testing and going straight to the target user platform. According to UCF, most drugs have a 10 year testing phase. Imagine new medications ready within a year.
It is not surprising that the Federal Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health are funding this $140 million USD project, but DARPA (Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency) is also in the mix. Do a quick search on DARPA and see how vast their influence reaches.
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