In the broadest sense, the Kelly lab research interests are within the realm of preclinical biology. In particular, they are interested in applying novel technology platforms to address the 3 Rs of toxicology in animal testing, reduce, refine and replace. Active areas of research in the Kelly lab focus on ex vivo modeling of human organ physiology and toxicological responses to drug/xenobiotic challenge. These project makes use of “organs on chips” or microphysiological systems (MPS) populated with primary and stem-cell derived cell types to recapitulate two key ADME organs, the liver and kidney as alternatives to preclinical animal toxicology studies. Recent work is extending MPS technologies to model select human diseases as well as how organs respond to the extreme environment of microgravity on the International Space Station.