Once they got past that hurdle, the team started a series of tests to determine whether they worked like the real thing. They found that it contracted or twitched when electrified, something which they claim is a first for lab-grown muscles. The muscles also reacted to drugs the same way real ones do, which was great news for the scientists, as their ultimate goal is for their creation to be used to provide personalized medicine. As study leader Nenand Bursac said: "We can take a biopsy from each patient, grow many new muscles to use as test samples and experiment to see which drugs would work best for each person." Too bad IBM's DNA Transistor never materialized: these muscles and that nanopore DNA sequencing device could have been the dynamic duo of personalized medicine.



