‘A mouse can’t tell us what works’: UK scientists to grow miniature human organs for drug testing

Researchers have been growing organoids for more than a decade, including kidney amniotic fluid organoids resembling renal tubules (above) grown at UCL. Photograph: Giuseppe Cala/Paolo di Coppi/Mattia Gerli/PA

Miniature human organs and other tissues are to be grown from NHS patients’ cells in a drive to improve medicine testing and reduce the number of animals used in drug development.

Scientists will use the clumps of tissue to learn how diseases vary between patients, helping them identify which treatments are best for different people based on the particular pathology underlying their condition.