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Creating "Homo Minutus" — a Benchtop Human To Test Drugs

Science_afficionado (932920) writes "Vanderbilt University scientists reported significant progress toward creating 'homo minutus' — a benchtop human — at the Society of Toxicology meeting on Mar. 26 in Phoenix. The advance is the successful development and analysis of a human liver construct//organ-on-a-chip that responds to exposure to a toxic chemical much like a real liver. The achievement is the first result from a five-year, $19 million multi-institutional effort led by Los Alamos National Laboratory (LANL), to develop four interconnected human organ constructs — liver, heart, lung and kidney — that are based on a highly miniaturized platform nicknamed ATHENA (Advanced Tissue-engineered Human Ectypal Network Analyzer). The project is supported by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency. Similar programs to create smaller-scale organs-on-chips are underway at the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Institutes of Health."

4 of 49 comments (clear)

  1. Meh. by fuzzyfuzzyfungus · · Score: 4, Funny

    I always just use orphans. Nobody seems to care about those.

  2. Homo Minutus .. AKA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Funny

    Homo Minutus .. Also known as "that little faggot"

    1. Re:Homo Minutus .. AKA by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      Yeah, buddy, that's his own hair.

  3. Re:Rights by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

    They have the right to remain silent.