Scientists in Australia have grown the world's first kidney from stem cells a tiny organ which could eventually help to reduce the wait for transplants.
The breakthrough, published in the journal Nature Cell Biology, followed years of research and involved the transformation of human skin cells into an organoid a functioning "mini-kidney" with a width of only a few millimetres.
Scientists are hoping to increase the size of future kidneys and believe the resulting organs will boost research and allow cheaper, faster testing of drugs. Within the next three to five years, the artificial organs could be used to allow doctors to repair damaged kidneys within the body, rather than letting diseases develop before proceeding with a transplant.
"This is the first time anybody has managed to direct stem cells into the functional units of a kidney," Professor Brandon Wainwright, from the University of Queensland, told The Telegraph. ...
Professor Melissa Little, from the University of Queensland, said scientists could try to grow full-grown kidneys for transplants or even "clusters of mini kidneys" that could be transplanted to boost patients' renal functions. But she told The Australian she believed such developments were still more than a decade away.
