Researchers from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute are developing ‘bio-chips’ that replicate the functioning of organs in the human body.

Last week Bioedge examined the ethical implications of digitizing the human mind. This week we’ll examine the ethical advantages of replicating the human organs. 

Researchers from Harvard University’s Wyss Institute are developing ‘bio-chips’ that replicate the functioning of organs in the human body. The researchers claim that these chips, structurally very similar to organs like the lungs and the heart, can accurately replicate the way our body would react to drugs and other environmental changes. If the project succeeds we may be able to circumvent the ethical difficulties encountered in animal testing and clinical trials.   

Human organs reproduced on biochips could end to animal testing
Xavier Symons
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Xavier Symons

Xavier Symons is a bioethicist and scholar in residence at the Kennedy Institute for Ethics at Georgetown University.

Latest posts by Xavier Symons (see all)

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