In their research article -- Bioengineered human myobundles mimic clinical responses of skeletal muscle to drugs-- Madden et al. from Duke University report the growth of human skeletal muscle that contracts and responds just like native tissue to external stimuli such as electrical pulses, biochemical signals and pharmaceuticals.
This lab-grown tissue should soon allow researchers to test new drugs and study diseases in functioning human muscle outside of the human body.
This reseach has recieved widespread media coverage, a few examples of which can be found below;
- See the first lab-grown muscle that flexes (Washington Post)
- Scientists Grow Human Muscle That Contracts Like The Real Thing (Huffington Post)
- Scientists create the first lab-grown human skeletal muscle (The Week)
- Human muscle tissue that flexes like the real thing grown in lab (Daily Mail)
The video below, created by Duke University, shows the muscle in action.
