Dr Kelly Berube, a human lung tissue engineering specialist at Cardiff University, was interviewed on the BBC’s Today programme on Thursday 4th June prior to speaking at the Cheltenham Science Festival. When asked about the need for continuing research using animal tissue, she responded:
Now we can do our experiments in petri dishes with functional human tissue. Now you have human data, so no need for the rat. I say, why use a rat when a human lung will do? I don’t see any reason why we can’t use human tissue. It’s the best way to go. You get human end point data, you don’t have to worry about saying, well, this happened in the rat, this might happen in man.
