Daijiworld Media Network – Tel Aviv

Tel Aviv, Aug 26: In a major leap for regenerative medicine, researchers at Israel’s Sheba Medical Center, in collaboration with Tel Aviv University, have successfully grown a synthetic kidney model in the lab that survived for more than 34 weeks—far exceeding earlier models that lasted barely a month. The breakthrough, published in The EMBO Journal, could pave the way for new treatments of kidney diseases.

The 3D organoid, though not yet a transplantable organ, offers scientists a powerful tool to study kidney development, test drug toxicity, and model congenital disorders. “We have succeeded for the first time in growing a human kidney in the form of an organoid from the specific stem cells of the kidney, in parallel with the maturation process in the uterus that occurs until the 34th week of pregnancy,” said Dr Benjamin Dekel, Director of the Pediatric Nephrology Unit and the Stem Cell Research Institute at Sheba’s Edmond and Lily Safra Children’s Hospital.

According to Dr Dekel, the real promise lies not in transplanting the organoid but in harnessing the biomolecules it secretes. These secretions may help repair damaged kidneys, offering patients a less invasive treatment pathway. “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,” he noted.

Experts caution that clinical application is still some distance away. Researchers must first identify the exact cell types, isolate the secreted molecules, and confirm their role in repairing adult kidneys.

Kidney disease affects millions worldwide, and current research models remain limited. The long-lived organoids mark a crucial step in bridging that gap, holding promise for faster drug testing, deeper disease insights, and future regenerative therapies.