For the first time, the University of Central Florida researchers used stem cells to grow neuromuscular junctions between human muscle cells and human spinal cord cells. These are the key connectors used by the brain for communication and muscle control.
This discovery is a huge step in developing "human-on-a-chip" systems. These systems are models that can recreate how organs and series of organ functions in the body. This could possibly accelerate drug testing, medical research, and life-saving breakthroughs.
A UCF bioengineer, James Hickman, said that these types of systems need to be developed if you ever want to recreate human function. He is the one who led this breakthrough. Hickman is eager about this breakthrough because some federal agencies have granted at least $140 million to grant funding to jump start "human-on-a-chip" research. Right now, scientists rely on animal systems for medical research, but this allows for a pure human system.
http://www.biologynews.net/
This discovery is a huge step in developing "human-on-a-chip" systems. These systems are models that can recreate how organs and series of organ functions in the body. This could possibly accelerate drug testing, medical research, and life-saving breakthroughs.
A UCF bioengineer, James Hickman, said that these types of systems need to be developed if you ever want to recreate human function. He is the one who led this breakthrough. Hickman is eager about this breakthrough because some federal agencies have granted at least $140 million to grant funding to jump start "human-on-a-chip" research. Right now, scientists rely on animal systems for medical research, but this allows for a pure human system.
http://www.biologynews.net/
Thats so awesome and amazing. Thats pretty cool how this can help us so much in possibly helping in medical research and could potentially save lives. Its mind blowing how they figure some of this stuff out.
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