Who: Researchers and biomedical companies in the West and in India.
What: The development of “organ-on-a-chip” technology.
Where: In India, scientists are developing models of different organs and disease states including skin, placenta, retina, lung and wound infection, while the United States has launched a start-up called Emulate Inc.
When: The technology has been in development for the past decade.
Why: The “organ-on-a-chip” technology is intended to mimic the environment in human organs, including blood flow and breathing movements, to create a synthetic environment in which to test new drugs. The current consensus is that animals can mimic some human diseases well but not others, which can lead to the failure of some preclinical trials.
How: The organ-on-a-chip technology involves the creation of small devices containing human cells that mimic the environment in human organs, with the hope that it will provide more accurate models for the testing of new drugs.
