KNOXVILLE – Researchers at the Oak Ridge National Laboratory are developing a computerized model of a pig, to use for testing purposes.

Glenn Allgood, an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, is also a senior research engineer with ORNL’s Instrumentation and Controls Division. He says the ‘digital pig’ will be very useful.

“It’s a high-resolution computer model of a pig, which would be a tool in a wide number of research projects,” Allgood said. “As it stands, we see it as very important in cardiovascular studies, as well as other areas of biomedical research.”

Allgood says the military will also use the technology.

“The Department of Defense can use the digital pig to study blunt-force particle distribution, which in other words is what happens to bodies when they are struck by bullets or other high-speed projectiles,” Allgood said. “But this can bridge the gap between animal studies and human studies, so the general populace can also gain a lot from this.”

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