Life in chips & bits

Warm-up

1. Have you ever been in a clinical test? Do you know anybody who has?
2. How long do you think a test for new drugs may last?
3. What could go wrong? Have you heard of any controversial cases?

Some grammar & Vocab

It fails more often than it succeeds
R&D
The tools that we have are failing us
Guess what. They don't.
It's nothing like what they have in the body
However, more often than not, animal models fail to predict what will happen in humans

build and engineer a home away from home for the cells.
the mechanical strain that the cells experience in our bodies.
We could, for example, mimic infection, where we add bacterial cells into the lung
 Yeah. Mucus. Yuck.  [compare with snot]
an aerosol drug. Those of you like me who have asthma, when you take your inhaler
Does it change the beating of your heart?
a game changer
the pharmaceutical industry
a full-blown attack
...put the cartridge into the machine just like you would a C.D., and away you go. Plug and play. Easy
some of these adverse drug reactions can be fatal.

Follow-up questions

1. How do the three different fluidic channels in the chip work?
2. Which different body organs are mentioned / shown to be replicated on chips?
3. Which different diseases are mentioned?
4. What are the difficulties in testing drugs for children?
5. What is the ultimate advantage for the individual?

 

 Answers to some of the questions

2) lung, gut, intestine, irritable bowel syndrome, ebola, SARS
3) bronchitis, cystic fibrosis, asthma, liver, kidneys