AstraZeneca ($AZN) has teamed up with Harvard University's Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering to use the institute's "organs-on-chips" technology--miniature human organs made by 3D printing--to improve the way it tests drugs for humans. AstraZeneca and Wyss scientists will use the organs-on-chips technology to develop new animal versions, which will be used alongside human models to test the safety of investigational drugs. "This collaboration with AstraZeneca will help us to validate this approach as a potential alternative to animal testing by carrying out direct comparisons between organ chips containing cells from animals versus humans in organ-mimicking environments," Wyss Founding Director Dr. Don Ingber said in a statement. "If successful, this effort should lead to ways to streamline the drug development process and more effectively predict safety of drugs and chemicals in humans." Release