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.
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Lorraine C. Racusen, MD
The Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, Maryland
The human kidney is an important site of toxic injury since the renal proximal tubule is sensitive to a variety of environmental and chemical toxic agents. However, in humans this epithelial tissue is inaccessible to direct study and fresh renal tissue from humans is difficult to harvest. Dr. Racusen will work to develop a human renal cell line which will allow researchers to perform a variety of in vitro toxicity tests on human kidney tissue without having to sacrifice countless small mammals.