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Billionaire-backed startup wants to grow headless human 'organ sacks' to replace animal test
• Disclose TVR3 Bio is actively developing technology to grow headless human bodies known as "bodyoids."
These genetically engineered structures contain full organ systems but lack a brain, rendering them nonsentient and incapable of feeling pain.
The Bay Area startup's project is accelerating as President Trump phases out federal animal experimentation across government agencies.
R3 Bio's long-term goal is to create human versions that serve as a direct source of tissues and organs for people who need them.
Immortal Dragons CEO Boyang Wang, whose Singapore-based longevity fund backs the company, stated: "If we can create a nonsentient, headless bodyoid for a human being, that will be a great source of organs."
For now R3 Bio is focusing on monkey organ sacks.
These would replace live monkeys in drug toxicity testing, providing scalable models with complete organ complexity including blood vessels.
The company uses stem-cell technology combined with gene editing to disable brain development while allowing organized organ growth.
Cofounder Alice Gilman said the approach eliminates the ethical issues of pain and suffering in animal research.
R3 Bio was inspired in part by organ shortages.





1 Comments in Response to Billionaire-backed startup wants to grow headless human 'organ sacks' to replace animal test
If the 'organ sacks' have a nervous system, they are sentient, even without a brain. The word 'sentient' might not be the right word, but then it becomes semantics. If they have a nervous system, they are human beings. Chop the head off a chicken, and the chicken will run around, still 'alive' even without its head. These experiments should stop, and the company should probably be shut down. If they don't stop or get shut down, what they are doing should be scrutinized with the same scrutiny as abortions.