SynDaver, the Tampa-based biotech company, has been working with the University of Florida to test their robotic dogs. The synthetic dogs are made of SynTissue, a material that mimics real body tissue. With the synthetic dogs, veterinary students will be able to get hands-on experience before performing surgeries on pets.
The dogs have all the parts of real dogs, including a heartbeat, circulatory system, and organs. They also react like live dogs; they breathe, bleed, and can die. Students can practice performing all types of surgeries, including trauma injuries and brain surgery. In this video, Dr. J Brad Case, DVM, DACVS, an assistant professor of small animal surgery at the University of Florida, says, “synthetic tissue is going to be the wave of the future” and hopes schools will do away with the use of live animals.
SynDaver aims to completely eliminate the use of live animal in veterinary education. In the past, terminal surgeries were standard practice in veterinary schools. In terminal surgery labs, live dogs and cats from shelters are anesthetized and operated on. The student gets hands-on experience and learns how to perform the surgery, and afterwards the animal is euthanized.
However, accurately replicating the entire body and bodily functions of an animal is no cheap task. The dogs cost $28,500 each, and SynDaver wants to give each accredited veterinary college 20 for free. After a $3 million deal made on the show "Shark Tank" was dropped, SynDaver created an indiegogo page, hoping to raise $24 million. Currently, the fund has $12,299 with two months left.
SynDaver’s synthetic humans, which have been featured on Mythbusters and Grey’s Anatomy, are currently used by medical students to practice human surgeries. SynDaver hopes to expand the practice to make synthetic cadavers standard in veterinary schools. Although Sciencealert claims terminal surgeries are already a thing of the past at most veterinary schools, the synthetic dogs will still provide quality hands-on experience that students could not have gotten in the past without the use of a live animal.
Like Dr. J Brad Case says, synthetic replications seem to be the future of research and education. Australia is on its way to banning animal testing in cosmetic surgery, and Johnson and Johnson decreased its use of animal testing by 60% since 2000. There are many alternatives to live animals such as cell cultures or chips, and they might be more effective anyway. Even our use of animals in entertainment is changing. Although our selfie fixation may be harming animals, "The Jungle Book" film used CGI animals instead of working with live ones.
In the past, students looked away and dealt with terminal surgeries because it was the only known way to learn procedures that would help animals in the future. But thanks to new research and technology, veterinarians no longer have to kill animals in order to save animals. If SynDaver reaches and exceeds its $24 million goal, they hope to greatly expand the company and work on making synthetic cats, horses, and cows.
