Frankenstein-lite: Scientists are building a human prototype for lab tests
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Defense and National Institutes of Health will provide MIT researchers with up to $32 million.
The Pentagon is funding Massachusetts Institute of Technology scientists to build a human physiology replica out of engineered tissue for lab testing.
The scientists will receive up to $32 million over the next five years from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency and the National Institutes of Health to develop the technology system, the research university announced.
The goal is to create a human prototype to measure the effect of experimental drugs and vaccines. The system will have modules that mimic the functions of crucial organs that make up the circulatory, immune, reproductive, and urinary systems, according to MIT.
To build the platform, the MIT researchers will collaborate with researchers at the non-profit Charles Stark Draper Laboratory as well as tissue engineering company MatTek Corp. and cell culture provider Zyoxel Ltd.
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