Volunteer test subjects for mosquito repellents can breathe easy.
And testing new medication on animals could also be old news thanks to an important development made by an Australian-led research team.
Instead of cultivating human cell samples in a Petri dish statically, the team has successfully replicated conditions like air and blood flow in the human lung, creating advanced human lung models.
Tests on models grown from healthy cells can highlight possible side-effects of new medication or the impact of air pollution on lungs.
Lab-made lungs grown from unhealthy cells, meanwhile, could help measure the efficacy of existing drug treatments.
The mini-organs could even be tailored to individual patients.
And mini-robots could be helping examine tiny bronchial tubes.
