The world’s first model of the human stomach, which is accurate in demonstrating how the food is broken down, has been successfully developed by scientists in Norwich.

The next step will be planning out the marketing strategy of this model at a global level with the help of export expertise provided by UK Trade and Investment.

Plant Biosciences Ltd. (PBL) is taking the breakthrough model to the market. It is a technology development company based at the Norwich Science Park on the outskirts of the city.

UKTI organized a trade mission and also partly funded the same. PBL was a part of this and their Dynamic Gastric Model (DGM) generated considerable excitement at the prestigious American Association of Pharmaceutical Science conference.

The computer-controlled DGM accurately replicates the working of the human stomach and facilitates the scientists to carry out effective investigations regarding the way food and pharmaceuticals are dealt with after swallowing.

“Everyone thinks of the stomach as just a bag full of fluids and enzymes, but it’s a very complicated organ and this machine replicates those complexities exactly,” said the company’s business development manager, Martin Stocks.