Are the lab rat's days numbered?

More accuracy seen in living cell stand-ins for human organs

Brown University associate professor Jeffrey R. Morgan (above, with student Toni-Marie Ferruccio) has designed a 3-D honeycomb-like mold that holds artificial clusters of cells and reduces the need for animals for research in the lab.

(Matthew J. Lee / Globe Staff Photo) Brown University associate professor Jeffrey R. Morgan (above, with student Toni-Marie Ferruccio) has designed a 3-D honeycomb-like mold that holds artificial clusters of cells and reduces the need for animals for research in the lab.

By Colin Nickerson

Globe Correspondent / March 30, 2009

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Bioengineers are striving to topple a scientific icon: the lowly lab mouse. And to replace bunnies, beagles, and other warm-blooded animals with insentient but biologically sophisticated substitutes. (Full article: 958 words)