Human-Organoid Models: Accomplishments to Salvage Test-Animals

Late stage attritions in drug discovery are costly and consuming. Improbable response of test molecules acquired in non-human systems is attributed to be the major cause of clinical failures. While conventional in vitro methods of drug discovery do not truly represent the human system, the animal models used for in vivo validation are also genetically and phenotypically distant from humans. However, recent developments in organoid culture are motivating and elevate hopes for replacing test animals with artificial human tissue models. 

Possibility of creating functional tissue ex vivo has a potential to revolutionize the way human therapeutics is perceived. Not only will it bridge the gap between drug development and its clinical efficacy but also help strategizing regenerative medicine. Successful human-tissue surrogates would liberate test animals or at least minimize their use for research purposes. 

Bioengineering method to identify and cure psychiatric disorders

Many neurological and psychiatric disorders are currently difficult or even impossible to treat; nearly 100 million people are suffering worldwide. Recently research proposed the bioengineered cranial bones with multiple intelligent functions that include neurotoxin drainage with EEG feedback, site specific trans meningeal drug delivery and it can also provide effective treatment for brain disorders by drug combinations that act on both synapses and genes. Finally after demonstrating the safety and anticonvulsant efficacy of this complex procedure on nonhuman primates, they confirmed that bioengineered cranial bones with multiple intelligent functions have realistic medical/therapeutic potential.

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Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation as a Graduation Requirement for Biomedical Engineering Students

At the end of a mountain road in Austria during the summer of 2003, I waited for a boat with my family on a dock at a large lake. Suddenly I saw a man fall to the sidewalk. His skin had turned that ashen blue color, andit was clear to me that he was in cardiac arrest. There was a crowd of more than 75 persons just standing and looking at him. I knew what to do when there was no detectable pulse or breathing. 

Cardio-Pulmonary Resuscitation (CPR) chest compressions were started immediately. His skin color returned to nearly normal. After a few minutes, a single bystander came up and said they knew how to do breaths. At that time, recommendations were for intermittent breathing as well as chest compressions. The stricken person made it alive to the EMSvehicle that took nearly 30 minutes to arrive. While I do not know the eventual outcome, I do know he was successfully resuscitated using an Automated External Defibrillator (AED). Furthermore with the quick application of CPR, he likely had a full recovery. Unfortunately, from the crowd response at that time, there were not enough people trained to act in this emergency situation where seconds really count.