In an effort to speed up drug discovery and development, a team of scientists has developed a novel cardiac system that could soon be used to screen drugs in pre-clinical trials. Study leader Kevin Healy of the University of California, Berkeley says this microphysiological system is an inch-long device that houses human heart tissues and measures their beat rate in response to various drugs.

"We use common drugs that patients would take, like beta blockers, basically drugs to accelerate heart rate, drugs to decrease heart rate, and these are drugs that are prescribed by cardiologists to different patients for various clinical reasons."

Healy says as long as the drugs affect the heart, there are no limits to the types of drugs that can be tested with their system.

"We’re not limited by the types of drugs we test. So essentially anything that’s water soluble, their ability really to dissolve in water. Then our systems, our microphysiological systems are amendable to being targeted with these drugs, similar to how you would dissolve a drug in blood."