{"id":236160,"date":"2026-04-29T18:23:54","date_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:23:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing"},"modified":"2026-04-29T18:23:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-29T23:23:54","slug":"a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/04\/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing","title":{"rendered":"A Billionaire-Backed Startup Wants to Grow \u2018Organ Sacks\u2019 to Replace Animal Testing"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a class=\"aligncenter blog-photo\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog.images\/a-billionaire-backed-startup-wants-to-grow-organ-sacks-to-replace-animal-testing.jpg\"><\/a><\/p>\n<p>As the Trump administration phases out the use of animal experimentation across the federal government, a biotech startup has a bold idea for an alternative to animal testing: nonsentient \u201corgan sacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Bay Area-based R3 Bio has been quietly pitching the idea to investors and in <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/medtechspectrum.com\/news\/12\/24589\/the-fda-is-phasing-out-animal-testing.html\" class=\"\"  href=\"https:\/\/medtechspectrum.com\/news\/12\/24589\/the-fda-is-phasing-out-animal-testing.html\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">industry<\/a> <a data-offer-url=\"https:\/\/www.drugdiscoveryonline.com\/doc\/when-preclinical-models-distort-the-patient-0001\" class=\"\"  href=\"https:\/\/www.drugdiscoveryonline.com\/doc\/when-preclinical-models-distort-the-patient-0001\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">publications<\/a> as a way to replace lab animals without the ethical issues that come with living organisms. That\u2019s because these structures would contain all of the typical organs\u2014except a brain, rendering them unable to think or feel pain. The company\u2019s long-term goal, cofounder Alice Gilman says, is to make human versions that could be used as a source of tissues and organs for people who need them.<\/p>\n<p>For Immortal Dragons, a Singapore-based longevity fund that\u2019s invested in R3, the idea of replacement is a core strategy for human longevity. \u201cWe think replacement is probably better than repair when it comes to treating diseases or regulating the aging process in the human body,\u201d says CEO Boyang Wang. \u201cIf we can create a nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being, that will be a great source of organs.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>As the Trump administration phases out the use of animal experimentation across the federal government, a biotech startup has a bold idea for an alternative to animal testing: nonsentient \u201corgan sacks.\u201d Bay Area-based R3 Bio has been quietly pitching the idea to investors and in industry publications as a way to replace lab animals without [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":427,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,1490,269,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-236160","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-biotech-medical","category-government","category-life-extension","category-neuroscience"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236160","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/427"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=236160"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/236160\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=236160"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=236160"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=236160"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}