organoid

Researchers have found that SARS-CoV-19 infection can cause ‘zombie’ cells to accumulate, contributing to the brain fog associated with long COVID, and have identified drugs that can reverse this virus-related premature aging.

Researchers have improved upon existing organoids, creating a miniature 3D colon complete with immune cells that could lead to the development of personalized treatments for colon-related diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease and cancer.

We can’t regenerate damaged tooth enamel, but scientists have now grown mini teeth in the lab that secrete enamel-producing proteins. This could be the first step towards “living fillings” that patch up cavities, or even lab-grown replacement teeth.

Last year, Monash University scientists created the "DishBrain" – a semi-biological computer chip with some 800,000 human and mouse brain cells lab-grown into its electrodes. Demonstrating something like sentience, it learned to play Pong within five minutes.

Australian researchers have achieved two firsts that will assist in the battle against heart disease: they created a tiny beating heart with its own vascular system and uncovered how the vascular system affects inflammation-driven heart damage.

Researchers have built a lung in a lab that more accurately emulates the human lung than traditional models, opening the door to the fast-tracking of the discovery and development of drugs and a reduction in our reliance on animals for testing.

Mini human brains, grown from stem cells and implanted into living mice, have for the first time been shown to respond to things the mice were seeing. Scientists were able to watch the responses in real time thanks to specialized graphene electrodes.

Scientists have grown mini eyes from human cells in the lab. These eye organoids provide good models of the real thing to help scientists study diseases that cause blindness and potentially find treatments.

Researchers have created induced pluripotent stem cells from the genetic material of the critically endangered Sumatran rhino, potentially providing new ways to help conservation efforts. They even used them to grow mini rhino brains in lab dishes.

Scientists studying the way hair follicles take shape in the human body have found new success in the lab, demonstrating a way of growing fully matured forms of them in culture with hopes of pioneering advanced treatments for hair loss disorders.

In a significant step for neuroscience, researchers at Stanford University have transplanted human neurons into rat brains, seen them mature into hybridized brain circuits and then used them to influence the rodents’ behavior.

Scientists have demonstrated that clusters of brain cells in a lab dish can be taught to play Pong in an approximation of sentience. This is the first time that these cells have performed goal-directed tasks, opening the door for better brain models.