This article is about the vaccine development tool.

MIMIC, or modular immune in vitro construct, is an artificial system imitating the human immune system. It has applications in vaccine development.

White blood cells, specifically peripheral blood mononuclear cells including T cells and B cells, from human donars are placed in standard tubes containing specially designed tissue constructs made out of collagen

Collagen

Collagen is a group of naturally occurring proteins found in animals, especially in the flesh and connective tissues of mammals. It is the main component of connective tissue, and is the most abundant protein in mammals, making up about 25% to 35% of the whole-body protein content...

, where they develop into small but functioning immune systems.Up to ninety-six individual tubes can be carried on a plate the size of a deck of cards, allowing scientists to use cells from almost a hundred different donors at once.

The MIMIC system replaces some steps in the vaccine development process that would otherwise be performed on animals

Animal testing

Animal testing, also known as animal experimentation, animal research, and in vivo testing, is the use of non-human animals in experiments. Worldwide it is estimated that the number of vertebrate animals—from zebrafish to non-human primates—ranges from the tens of millions to more than 100 million...

 and offers scientists better speed and flexibility than traditional methods. However, critics are concerned that MIMIC may be too simple for use as widespread as its developers hope.

The MIMIC system was developed by VaxDesign and became available for use in 2008.