Lung on a chip

CBS Interactive: SmartPlanet
In a move that could signal a shift in the way we test pharmaceuticals, researchers at Harvard University have developed a human lung on a chip. The tiny device contains actual human cells, mimicking the way the human lung works.

The Register
Engineers at Harvard's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering have built an experimental synthetic intestine using currently available chip technology. The gut-on-a-chip is about the same size as a USB stick and consists of a central tube that is lined with a single layer of human intestinal epithelial cells to mimic the human body...

The Scientist
...At the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University, cell biologist Don Ingber and his colleagues, have created a microchip intended for use as an in vitro model system for testing drugs or toxic effects without the use of animal models...

Wall Street Daily
Hippocrates, the ancient Greek physician, declared that “anatomy is the foundation of medicine and should be formed on the basis of the human body.” Well, apparently he knew what he was talking about, because 2,200-plus years and countless cadaver dissections later, we’re now spraying healthy cells onto damaged skin...

Forbes
...DARPA, the Pentagon’s ambitious research arm, last week announced a $37 million grant for the development of an array of “organs on a chip” designed to facilitate the study of human physiology, in particular the rapid testing of new pharmaceutical agents...