Developing clinical-grade intestinal organoids for regenerative medicine applications

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and other intestinal disorders affect millions of people worldwide, often causing lasting damage to the lining of the gut.

In severe cases, this damage can become irreversible, leaving surgery as one of the few remaining treatment options.

In recent years, however, regenerative medicine has emerged as a promising alternative approach, raising the possibility that damaged tissues could one day be repaired using a patient's own cells.

Central to this vision are tiny three-dimensional replicas of human organs known as "organoids," which are grown from stem cells and can mimic important features of real tissues. ...