After years of controversial animal testing, scientists from the ‘Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research’ have finally made a breakthrough in genetics. Proposing to move away from unreliable animal testing, scientists are now beginning to practice test tube techniques using human cells. Scientists are able to improve the quality of research by using these techniques, which are coincidentally; cheaper, more reliable and efficient than using laboratory animals.With this new way of testing, scientist Christopher Austin, director of the ‘NIHs Chemical Genomics Centre’, believes that what would have once taken years to test in animals, will only take a day with this modern technology. With this in mind, the US drug regulatory research agency has admitted that 92% of the medical procedures passed on animals ultimately failed when given to humans. With results such as these, why wouldn’t you want to move away from unreliable laboratory testing that harmed and killed innocent animals every day?
This modern technology will provide scientists with the tools and techniques to identify genes that predispose some people to particular illnesses. Scientists at ‘The Dr Hadwen Trust for Humane Research’ believe that by using human kidney cells, they will be able to improve research into Sepsis; a common cause of death to patients in Intensive Care Units (ICU). When you think about the progress that experimenting using human cells has made in such a short time, imagine what progress will be made in 15 years? With methods this fast that produce reliable data, test tube experiments are a step in the right direction. 