By Murray Sherriffs
Research from the University of Saskatchewan’s Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization will benefit from this. Doctor Neeraj Dhar and his VIDO team are developing organoids—donor tissue engineered in a lab to mimic a variety of organs—which will replace tests on guinea pigs and other animals.
Animals have different physiologies and “…many therapeutics we develop for humans often fail in the translation stage.”
Though his work already represents a new frontier, Dhar is launching organoids into newer domains and chief among them is immunology, where they are primed to make “…amazing breakthroughs in tuberculosis research.”
Organoids have existed for some time but only “one or two labs all over the world” are using them to study TB.
Dhar has been culturing lung organoids sourced from small pieces of human pulmonary tissue.
The novel component in his organoid development is an immune response.
By mimicking the human immune system, advanced immune organoids can respond more accurately to potential treatments like vaccines and antibiotics.