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Organoids are cell-derived in vitro 3D organ models and allow the study of biological processes, such as cell behaviour, tissue repair and response to drugs or mutations, in an environment that mimics endogenous cell organisation and organ structures. Starting as a major technological breakthrough they are now firmly established as an essential tool in biological research and also have important implications for clinical use. A major advantage is that organoids can be grown from a limited supply of starting material, e.g. biopsies, and used for drug screening to develop individual therapies. They have further shown potential in the modelling of diseases, gene editing and transplantations and not least helped to answer many important biological questions. Efforts are underway to setup cryopreserved biobanks of human organoids as a resource for researchers and clinicians.
Organoid technologies offer unique insights into the biological processes of the tissues they mimic and are being developed at a rapid pace. Here, we introduce a Collection of content from across the Nature Journals, outlining recent progress and challenges in the organoid field.
Current advances in biotechnology open up unprecedented possibilities to transform human tissues into complex, valuable tissue products, such as organoids. Here, we propose consent for governance as a leading paradigm for the derivation, storage and use of complex human tissue products to ensure adjustment to changing ethical requirements.
Advances in stem cell research offer unprecedented insights into human biology and opportunities for clinical translation. They also raise many questions with social and ethical implications.
Three-dimensional brain organoid models have come into the spotlight as in vitro tools to recapitulate complex features of the brain. Four recent papers now leverage current technologies to generate new flavours of brain organoids and address aspects of brain biology which, to date, have been challenging to explore.
Organoids are a powerful tool to study both physiological and disease processes. A completely synthetic matrix assembled from exchangeable modular parts has been developed and not only supports proliferation of human intestinal organoids derived from pluripotent embryonic stem cells, but also augments subsequent ad vivo implantation into injured murine colon.
Difficult questions will be raised as models of the human brain get closer to replicating its functions, explain Nita A. Farahany, Henry T. Greely and 15 colleagues.
Single-cell analyses in cancer are limited by the small biomass of individual cells. In vitro production of 3D organoid structures from single tumour-derived cells generates sufficient biomass for in-depth analyses.
In an article published recently in Nature Medicine, the authors generate organoid models of liver neoplasia. In doing so, they highlight both the diversity of current organoid methodologies and their application to cancer modeling and therapeutics discovery.