- Gory Details
World’s First 'Menstrual Cycle in a Dish' Simulates Female Body
After decades of drug testing on mostly men, a new device may help tailor treatments for different genders.
In a laboratory in Chicago, a palm-size device had its first period.
The device looks much like a Japanese bento box, but instead of dividers for sushi, each compartment contains living tissues. One has a bit of mouse ovary; others hold pieces made from a human uterus, cervix, vagina, fallopian tubes, and liver. The team named the device the EVATAR, a play on the idea of an avatar, or virtual representation of a person, combined with the name of the Bible’s first woman.
Now, scientists report that the device has replicated a full menstrual cycle for the first time. The tissues produced hormones that coursed through the miniature reproductive system, their levels rising and falling over 28 days.
The EVATAR, described this
