- Staff Writer
RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK -- Forget virtual reality - the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is building virtual human organs.
The EPA's "virtual tissue" researchers are developing a set of computer simulations that may one day be able to identify the risks posed by common industrial pollutants such as pesticides without testing them on animals.
Last week, the EPA awarded nearly $3 million to four groups - including North Carolina's Hamner Institute and UNC-Chapel Hill - to expand its virtual liver project. They will collaborate with current virtual liver researchers based at the EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology in the Research Triangle Park.
The EPA's "virtual tissue" researchers are developing a set of computer simulations that may one day be able to identify the risks posed by common industrial pollutants such as pesticides without testing them on animals.
Last week, the EPA awarded nearly $3 million to four groups - including North Carolina's Hamner Institute and UNC-Chapel Hill - to expand its virtual liver project. They will collaborate with current virtual liver researchers based at the EPA's National Center for Computational Toxicology in the Research Triangle Park.
The team is particularly interested in creating a computerized liver because it's often the first organ to be injured by toxic chemicals, says Dr. John Wambaugh, a physical scientist at the EPA who works on the project. When we encounter a poisonous chemical such as Freon, he says, "the liver is like the Secret Service agent that jumps in front of the bullet."
The liver's defensive role in the body has long since made it a crucial part of chemical safety experiments. Traditionally, though, scientists have done these experiments using laboratory animals such as mice and rats. "Right now, they're the gold standard," Wambaugh says.
Gold standard or not, these studies are far from perfect.
Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/03/1317843/virtual-liver-may-be-real-lifesaver.html#ixzz1R6n1JNsU
The liver's defensive role in the body has long since made it a crucial part of chemical safety experiments. Traditionally, though, scientists have done these experiments using laboratory animals such as mice and rats. "Right now, they're the gold standard," Wambaugh says.
Gold standard or not, these studies are far from perfect.
Read more: http://www.newsobserver.com/2011/07/03/1317843/virtual-liver-may-be-real-lifesaver.html#ixzz1R6n1JNsU
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