I’ve written a number of times about the way in which the debate about the impacts of nanotechnology has been highjacked by the single issue of nanoparticle toxicity, to the detriment of more serious and interesting longer term issues, both positive and negative. The flippant title of this post on the subject – Bad News for Lab Rats – conceals the fact that, while I don’t oppose animal experiments in principle, I’m actually a little uncomfortable about the idea that large numbers of animals should be sacrificed in badly thought out and possibly unnecessary toxicology experiments. So I was very encouraged to read this news feature in Nature (free summary, subscription required for full article) about progress in using microfluidic devices containing cell cultures for toxiological and drug testing. The article features work from Michael Shuler’s group at Cornell, and a company founded by Shuler’s colleague Gregory Baxter, Hurel Corp.