Lab-Grown 3D Lungs to Help Study Diseases

Scientists, including those of Indian origin, have successfully grown 3D lungs in the lab, using stem cells, which can be used to study diseases that are difficult to understand with conventional methods. By coating tiny gel beads with lung-derived stem cells and then allowing them to self-assemble into the shapes of the air sacs found in human lungs, researchers created 3D “organoids”. The laboratory-grown tissue can be used to study diseases including idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which has been difficult to study using conventional methods.

While researchers haven’t built a fully functional lung, they’ve been able to take lung cells and place them in the correct geometrical spacing and pattern to mimic a human lung. Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis is a chronic lung disease characterized by scarring of the lungs. The scarring makes the lungs thick and stiff, which over time results in progressively worsening shortness of breath and lack of oxygen to the brain and vital organs.