News • Microbiome
Fatty acids fuel cancer-promoting gut bacteria
TU München researchers discover how chronic cellular stress changes gut microbiome composition, promoting cancer development through altered lipid metabolism.
Search for: "organoid" - 72 articles found
News • New way to heal burns and wounds
3D printing live cells into a skin transplant
A novel approach to bioprinting may lead to new ways to treat skin burns and severe wounds. With this, the researchers aim to create new skin that does not become scar tissue but a functioning dermis.
News • Targeting early versions
A 'head start' in the race against pancreatic cancer
Fighting pancreatic cancer can feel like a race against time. A new discovery could give clinicians a head start - by targeting precancerous lesions before they become much more aggressive.
News • A closer look at the GI microbiome
“Gut-on-a-chip” predicts immunotherapy efficacy against melanoma
The gastrointestinal microbiome holds valuable information that can help predict whether immunotherapy will be successful against melanoma. A new “gut-on-a-chip” is designed to do exactly that.
News • Research on MRD in tongue cancer
Understanding chemotherapy resistance in oral cancers using organoids
Tongue cancer cells can become resistant to chemotherapy under certain circumstances. Investigating these mechanisms, researchers shed light on promising avenues toward new treatments for this cancer.
News • Striking structural reorganisation
Pregnancy and nursing massively changes up mothers' intestines
When women are pregnant and nurse their babies, their bodies change to ensure the health of both mother and child. Researchers now surprisingly find that the intestine also changes completely.
News • Inclusion of all cell lineages
Advanced pancreas organoid for better insights
A new type of pancreas organoid contains all key pancreatic cell types - acinar, ductal, and endocrine cells - allowing valuable new insights.
Video • Cancer research
3D-printed tumor model reveals metastasis mechanisms
New insights into metastasis: Scientists created a 3D-printed model to mimic the specific conditions that spur the spread of cancer cells. This could help discover new screening and treatment options.
News • Research aboard the International Space Station
How liver tissue from the ISS may transform tissue engineering
An “out-of-this-world” project has the potential to transform the future of tissue engineering and liver transplantation through research conducted aboard the International Space Station (ISS).
News • Neurometabolism
Huntington: New insights into disease progression
Researchers discovered a gene that might be a key factor in the progression of Huntington’s disease in organoids. The gene may contribute to brain abnormalities much earlier than previously thought.
News • Focus on Toxoplasma gondii
Could brain parasites help treat cognitive disorders?
Toxoplasma gondii is a parasite with the ability to infect the brain, causing life-threatening diseases. Researchers now want to harness its properties to advance treatment of cognitive disorders.
News • Synthetic nanofibers
Repairing cartilage damage with ‘dancing’ molecules
US researchers applied an injectable new therapy, which harnesses fast-moving “dancing molecules,” to repair damaged human cartilage cells within just 4 hours.
News • Damage in vascular organoids
Lab-grown diabetic vessels give new insights
Using vascular organoids derived from stem cells, researchers gain new insights into how diabetes damages blood vessels. This could lead to to the development of new treatments.
News • Adaptive mutability
How bowel cancer flips the switch to avoid immune detection
Why does the immune system sometimes fail to control the development of bowel cancer? UK and Dutch researchers discovered how cancer cells use a genetic "switch" to evade detection.
News • 3D printed device
Finding paraplegia treatments with spinal cord organoids
A new research project focuses on creating a 3D printed device to grow a human spinal cord organoid for the study of spinal cord injury and subsequent drug testing.
News • Research on DNA danage
Surprise finding on cancer cell death to impact therapies
Chemotherapy kills cancer cells – but how? New research suggests that the mechanisms are different than previously understood. The finding will have implications for future cancer treatments.
News • 6.5 million European funding
Fighting cancer with artificial cells and tissue
Artificial cells to combat cancer: Research groups are working to create synthetic micro-organisms capable of detecting the presence of the disease and delivering anti-cancer therapies.
News • Ciliopathy reseach
Rare lung disease: genetics reveals cause of PCD
Primary ciliary dyskinesia (PCD) is a rare inherited multi-organ condition, which can lead to inflammation of the airways and infections. Now, scientists have found what causes PCD.
News • Tumor organoid platform
Personalized 3D bioprinting to advance gastric cancer treatment
Using 3D bioprinting to accurately replicate the biological environment surrounding gastric cancer cells, researchers predicted a patient’s response to anticancer drugs during the preclinical stage.
News • Fertility research
Researchers produce testicle organoids in the lab
A research team created "laboratory testicles" that may significantly advance understanding of the mechanisms involved in sex determination and provide solutions for male infertility.
News • Elimination of senescent tumour cells
Study: Immunotherapy makes anti-cancer chemotherapy more efficient
Chemotherapy against cancer can lead to the generation of senescent tumour cells, which can help the tumour survive. A new immunotherapy approach to eliminate these cells shows promise in animal models.
News • Complication prevention
Placenta organoids help understand pre-eclampsia and pregnancy disorders
Using lab-grown ‘mini-placentas’, researchers from the UK and Switzerland hope to get new insights on dangerous pregnancy complications, such as pre-eclampsia.
News • The role of arginine
Cancer research: Metabolite drives tumor development
University of Basel scientists have discovered that high levels of the amino acid arginine drive metabolic reprogramming to promote tumor growth. This could lead to improved liver cancer treatment.
News • HSNCC treatment stratification
Head and neck cancer: using organoids for personalized therapy
Researchers from the Organoid group (Hubrecht Institute) and UMC Utrecht have developed a biobank with organoids derived from patients with head and neck cancer (HNC).
News • Research on mini organs
Organoids bring new insights into liver cancer
Dutch scientists have revealed new scientific insights into the features of fibrolamellar carcinoma (FLC), a rare type of childhood liver cancer.
Video • Cardiology & Biomedical Technology
Repairing heart damage: Breakthrough in vascularized heart organoids
Researchers have succeeded in introducing a vascular system into tiny living and beating model human heart muscles, an achievement which it's hoped will accelerate progress toward the ultimate goal of repairing damage from heart disease.
News • Metastatic recurrence
Researchers discover mechanism responsible for colon cancer relapse
Researchers in Barcelona discovered the population of residual tumour cells responsible for the recurrence of colorectal cancer in other organs after removal of the primary tumour.
News • Model system shows tumor grwoth
Novel organoid model for pancreatic cancer
Researchers in Munich have developed a novel model system that can be used to precisely track the growth steps and three-dimensional arrangement of pancreatic cancer cells.
News • Precision oncology
What's new in cancer therapy?
Researchers from the University of Bern and Inselspital provide an overview of the latest technologies in precision oncology. Translating these into clinical application is still a major challenge.
Article • Modelling systems for human biology
Organoid technology: new opportunities for drug discovery
Two-dimensional (2D) cultured cell lines and animal models have been the principal research tools for the past decade, but have several shortcomings. Three-dimensional cell cultures, or organoids, show great promise here.
News • Infectious disease screening
Bronchial organoids and drug discovery applications advance Covid-19 research
A research group from Kyoto developed two in vitro models to study SARS-CoV-2, and showed that they can be used for drug screening for infectious diseases including Covid-19.
News • HCC in vitro research
Organoids give new clues to liver cancer progression
Newly engineered in vitro tumour models open ways to better understand the crosstalk between liver cancer cells and their microenvironment, researchers from Singapore found.
News • Macrophages
Hunting for immune cells that predispose people to severe Covid-19
When a virus makes its way into the body, one of the immune system’s first responders is a set of pathogen-removal cells called macrophages. But they don’t all target viruses in the same way.
News • Mini-livers on a chip
Organoids: step towards hepatitis C vaccine
A platform for studying how the human immune system responds to hepatitis C infection by combining microfluidic technology with liver organoids could speed the hunt for a vaccine.
News • Artificial brains
Brain organoids help understand autism
Scientists use miniature brain models to understand how a mutated gene affects brain development.
News • Tissue regeneration
Repairing intestinal damage with 3D cell transplants
Researchers from Tokyo Medical and Dental University (TMDU) develop a protocol to transplant 3D cellular structures that could regenerate damaged intestine.
News • Without causing neurological damage
Injections of zika virus destroys brain tumors
In both the mice and organoids, cytokines suppressed tumor growth after treatment, and defense cells migrated to the brain region affected by the tumor, alerting the immune system to its existence.
News • In cardiac cells
Pop-up sensors measure electronic signals
A tiny ‘pop-up’ sensor monitors the electrical activity inside heart cells. The device could provide new insights into cardiac diseases, including myocardial infarction and arrhythmias.
News • Tissue scarring
How a Covid-19 infection can damage the kidneys
The Coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 infects the kidneys and contributes to tissue scarring, as shown by researchers from Germany and the Netherlands.
News • Coronavirus research
Why Omicron may be more evasive, but less severe
The Omicron variant of SARS-CoV-2 may be significantly better at evading vaccine-induced antibodies – but preliminary evidence suggests it is less likely to cause severe illness in the lungs.
News • Organoid research
Structure formation in mini-organs
Many of the organ systems found in animals exhibit highly complex structures, which are essential for their various functions. How such structures develop during embryonic development is a central question in biology. Physicists led by Erwin Frey (Professor of Statistical and Biological Physics at LMU Munich) and Andreas Bausch (Professor of Cellular Biophysics at the Technical University of…
News • Patient response testing
New method predicts which cancer therapies work (and which don't)
A new technology that can study which therapies will work on patients with solid cancerous tumours has been developed by scientists at University College London (UCL). Researchers say the tool, which can rapidly test tumorous tissue against different treatments, such as chemotherapy, immunotherapy or radiotherapy, could be used by clinicians to pinpoint the best therapy for a particular patient.
News • Unexpected find
Anti-tapeworm drug shows promise against Covid-19
Researchers from the German Center for Infection Research (DZIF) at Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin and the University of Bonn have examined the way in which SARS-CoV-2 reprograms the metabolism of the host cell in order to gain an overall advantage. According to their report in Nature Communications, the researchers were able to identify four substances which inhibit SARS-CoV-2…
News • Heartbeat in a dish
"Cardioids" hold great promise for heart disease research
Self-organizing heart organoids – developed at the Austrian Academy of Sciences – are also effective injury- and in vitro congenital disease models. These “cardioids” may revolutionize research into cardiovascular disorders and malformations of the heart. The results are published in the journal Cell.
News • Understanding myelination
Multiple sclerosis: Mini '3D brains' to speed up research
Tiny 3D models that mimic vital aspects of the human nervous system have been developed in a step that could accelerate drug research for neurological conditions such as multiple sclerosis (MS). The millimetre-wide models – created using stem cells from human skin samples – will be used to study myelin, an insulating substance that helps nerve cells communicate with each other. Researchers…
Video • Regenerative medicine
Lab-grown ‘mini-bile ducts’ to repair human livers
Scientists have used a technique to grow bile duct organoids – often referred to as ‘mini-organs’ – in the lab and shown that these can be used to repair damaged human livers. This is the first time that the technique has been used on human organs. The research paves the way for cell therapies to treat liver disease – in other words, growing ‘mini-bile ducts’ in the lab as…
News • Immune reponse to COVID-19
‘Mini-lungs’ reveal early stages of SARS-CoV-2 infection
‘Mini-lungs’ grown from tissue donated to Cambridge hospitals has provided a team of scientists from South Korea and the UK with important insights into how COVID-19 damages the lungs. Writing in the journal Cell Stem Cell, the researchers detail the mechanisms underlying SARS-CoV-2 infection and the early innate immune response in the lungs.
News • Human tissue
Intestinal organoids make animal experiments redundant
Researchers of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) have cultured so-called intestinal organoids from human intestinal tissue, which is a common byproduct when performing bowel surgery.
News • Promising approach for eye diseases
Functional human retinas created in a dish
Scientists have generated accurate replications of human retinas in culture that can be used to pinpoint the specific types of cells affected by genetic eye diseases. The culmination of a six-year effort, this achievement will accelerate progress in developing new therapies and was reported in Cell by a team led by Botond Roska at the Institute for Molecular and Clinical Ophthalmology Basel (IOB)…
News • Bioengineered Neuronal Organoids
Generation of human brain organoids with the ability to learn
Scientists combined induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) and their deep knowledge in the bioengineering of human organoids to for the first time bioengineer the human brain at the macroscale level with comprehensive network function
News • Organoid
The first functioning mini human heart model
Michigan State University researchers have created for the first time a miniature human heart model in the laboratory, complete with all primary heart cell types and a functioning structure of chambers and vascular tissue.
News • COVID-19
‘Mini-Brains’ suggest SARS-CoV-2 can infect brain cells
Scientists have found that organoids (tiny tissue cultures made from human cells that simulate whole organs) known as “mini-brains” can be infected by the SARS-CoV-2 virus that causes COVID-19.
News • Organoids
Using 'mini colons' to detect weaknesses of colorectal cancer
One of the main features of colorectal cancer is that there are considerable differences between the tumors of individual patients - at genetic level and hence in terms of the response to treatment too. Researchers from the German Cancer Consortium (DKTK) have developed a method that allows these differences to be identified more effectively.
News • Coronavirus treatment
Promising trial drug blocks early stages of COVID-19
An international team led by University of British Columbia (UBC) researcher Dr. Josef Penninger has found a trial drug that effectively blocks the cellular door SARS-CoV-2 uses to infect its hosts. The findings, published in Cell, hold promise as a treatment capable of stopping early infection of the novel coronavirus that, as of April 2, has affected more than 981,000 people and claimed the…
News • Gastric squamous-columnar junction cancer
The role of stem cells in deadly gastric SCJ cancer
A study led by scientists from Cornell University provides important new insights into a common and deadly type of gastric cancer. Incidence of this cancer, called gastric squamous-columnar junction (SCJ) cancer, also known as gastroesophageal cancer, rose 2.5 times in the United States between the 1970s and 2000s, while cases of all gastric cancers have decreased by more than 80% since the…
Article • Growing brain tumours in a petri dish
3D organoids for glioblastoma patients
Research that might lead to new treatment options and longer survival for patients with glioblastoma – a malignant and particularly invasive type of brain tumour – is ongoing at ZHT, the Centre for Brain Tumours, and the Wilhelm Sander Neuro-oncology Treatment Unit at University Hospital Regensburg, which form one of the largest and most modern facilities for brain tumour treatment in…
News • Major global study reveals
Colorectal, pancreatic cancer rates up 10% in last 30 years
The results of a major study across 195 countries, presented at UEG Week Barcelona 2019, indicate that global death rates for pancreatic cancer and incidence rates for colorectal cancer both increased by 10% between 1990 and 2017. The Global Burden of Disease study, is the first to provide comprehensive worldwide estimates of the burden, epidemiological features and risk factors of a number of…
Video • Tissue construct
A 'swift' way to 3D-print organs
Twenty people die every day waiting for an organ transplant in the U.S., and while more than 30,000 patients now receive transplants annually, another 113,000 are currently on organ waitlists. Many people see artificially grown human organs as the Holy Grail for resolving the organ shortage, and advances in 3D printing have led to a boom in using that technique to build living tissue constructs…
Article • Personalized medicine
Exploring the potential of High-Content Screening
The key challenges and opportunities surrounding High-Content Screening have been outlined in a presentation to leading scientists and technologists at a major lab conference. Speaking at the recent SLASEurope 2019 event in Barcelona, Professor Matthias Nees from the Institute of Biomedicine in the Department of Biology at the University of Turku, Finland, outlined the potential of High-Content…
News • Cellular interactions
Repairing aged tissue by messing with the neighbors
Researchers at the University of Helsinki have discovered how regenerative capacity of intestinal epithelium declines when we age. Targeting of an enzyme that inhibits stem cell maintaining signaling rejuvenates the regenerative potential of an aged intestine. This finding may open ways to alleviate age-related gastrointestinal problems, reduce side-effects of cancer treatments, and reduce…
News • New discovery
Cancer drugs promote stem cell properties of colorectal cancer
Scientists from the German Cancer Research Center (Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum, DKFZ) and the Mannheim University Medical Center have now discovered that a certain group of cancer drugs (MEK Inhibitors) activates the cancer-promoting Wnt signalling pathway in colorectal cancer cells. This can lead to the accumulation of tumor cells with stem cell characteristics that are resistant to many…
News • Precision medicine
Europe looks to cells for a healthier future
How can we detect the first signs of disease as early as possible? Could closer investigation at the cellular level help to quickly prevent disease progression through appropriate treatment? The European Union is now investing a million euros over a one-year period to devise the plan for a fundamentally new approach to understanding the constant changes within cells and their relationships to one…
News • Research
Growing a human esophagus in the lab
Scientists working to bioengineer the entire human gastrointestinal system in a laboratory now report using pluripotent stem cells to grow human esophageal organoids.
News • Tumor research
Growing brain cancer in a dish
Austrian researchers have accomplished an astounding feat: They created organoids that mimic the onset of brain cancer. This method not only sheds light on the complex biology of human brain tumors but could also pave the way for new medical applications.
News • New report
Advanced development of primary pancreatic organoid tumor models for high-throughput phenotypic drug screening
A multidisciplinary team of scientists share recent advancements in innovative in-vitro cancer biology methods for screening drug-like molecules in cancer tissue relevant models in a new report published online ahead-of-print at SLAS Discovery. Entitled Advanced Development of Primary Pancreatic Organoid Tumor Models for High-Throughput Phenotypic Drug Screening, the report can be accessed for…
News • Milestone
Researcher grow hairy skin in a dish
Researchers at Indiana University School of Medicine have successfully developed a method to grow hairy skin from mouse pluripotent stem cells - a discovery that could lead to new approaches to model disease and new therapies for the treatment of skin disorders and cancers.
News • Macrophages
How immune cells help early breast cancer spread
Mount Sinai researchers have discovered that normal immune cells called macrophages, which reside in healthy breast tissue surrounding milk ducts, play a major role in helping early breast cancer cells leave the breast for other parts of the body, potentially creating metastasis before a tumor has even developed, according to a study published in Nature Communications. The macrophages play a role…
News • Cancer research
Esophageal cancer “cell of origin” identified
Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers have identified cells in the upper digestive tract that can give rise to Barrett’s esophagus, a precursor to esophageal cancer. The discovery of this “cell of origin” promises to accelerate the development of more precise screening tools and therapies for Barrett’s esophagus and esophageal adenocarcinoma, the fastest growing form of…
Article • Medication testing
The birth of the amazing organoids
Professor Hans Clevers, researcher and group leader at the Hubrecht Institute in Utrecht, the Netherlands, invented the organoids, a ground-breaking new technique to grow new ‘organs’ and to test medication.
Scientists tissue-engineer part of human stomach
Researchers at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital Medical Center grew functional stomach and intestinal tissues to study diseases and new drugs. They use pluripotent stem cells to generate human stomach tissues in a petri dish that produce acid and digestive enzymes.
Article • Mutations
Dutch scientists build colon cancer progression model
Scientists from the Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center Utrecht (UMC Utrecht) have developed a cell culture model of human colon cancer progression. This model mimics the situation in patients more closely than any other colon cancer model so far. It enables researchers to study processes involved in colon cancer development and find new cancer drugs.
News • Research
New revolutionary culturing technique for liver and pancreas
Researchers at the Hubrecht Institute and the University Medical Center (UMC) Utrecht successfully developed a culturing system for human liver stem cells as well as stem cells from pancreatic cancer. They describe the development of these culturing systems in two articles in this week’s edition of Cell magazine.
