In a landmark achievement for regenerative medicine, researchers from Sheba Medical Center and Tel Aviv University have successfully grown human kidney organoids from tissue-specific stem cells, closely mirroring the process of fetal kidney development in the womb, researchers announced on Wednesday. The kidney structures matured in the lab over more than six months — making them the longest-lived and most stable lab-grown kidney organoids to date. This breakthrough opens the door to major advances in diagnosing birth defects, treating kidney diseases, and testing drug safety during pregnancy.

“This is the first time anyone has managed to grow a human kidney from tissue-specific stem cells that survives and matures in the lab for such an extended period,” said Prof. Benjamin Dekel, who led the study. Dekel is Director of Pediatric Nephrology and the Stem Cell Research Institute at Sheba’s Safra Children’s Hospital, and Director of the Sagol Center for Regenerative Medicine at Tel Aviv University. “We are actually seeing live how a developmental problem leads to kidney diseases that are seen in the clinic, which will enable the development of innovative treatments.”

The study was recently published in The EMBO Journal, a peer-reviewed medical journal.