The Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing is an academic center affiliated with the Division of Toxicological Sciences in the Department of Environmental Health Sciences of the Johns Hopkins University Bloomberg School of Public Health.

 

Johns Hopkins School of Public Health

Research Grants 1991-1992

Cultured Human Hepatocytes -- A Model for Drug Toxicity Studies

Gabrielle Margaret Hawksworth, PhD
University of Aberdeen, Scotland

Dr. Hawksworth is investigating the potential of isolating, culturing, and preserving human hepatocytes for drug toxicity testing and other research usage. The extended and increased availability of human hepatocytes in culture would generate greater collaboration among research groups since cell cultures could be transferred and shared. Knowledge of hepatocytes and drug metabolism is an essential prerequisite to the evaluation of alternative systems for predictive drug toxicity studies in man. Increasing the availability of this primary culture would obviate the current reliance on animal testing.