It was fantastic to host musician Will Young, as he visited the Queen Mary Centre for Predcitive in vitro Models to learn more about how organ-on-a-chip technology may be used to reduce the use of animals in science.

An organ-chip is a miniture device in which living cells can be grown to recreate the biology of human tissues and organs within a laboratory. These organ-chips can then be used for fundamental research and for testing new products and therapies, to provide a more accurate prediction of the way our bodies behave in health and disease.

Bioengineers and scientists at Queen Mary are conducting world leading research to develop these organ-chip models, creating the right conditions within the chips so that the cells behave as they do in the body.

The team made a short video clip about Will's visit which has now been seen by over 45 thousand people on Instagram.

This is all part of Queen Mary's drive to raise awareness of this transformative organ-chip technology and conduct the research and development essential to translating these devices into industry inorder to accelerate the availability of new medicines and reduce animal testing.