Mini Kidneys Uncover Big Advances in Polycystic Kidney Disease Research

NTU Singapore’s groundbreaking study on ‘mini kidneys’ offers new hope for treating polycystic kidney disease, with minoxidil emerging as a promising therapy.

Scientists at Nanyang Technological University, Singapore (NTU Singapore) have successfully grown ‘mini kidneys’ in the lab and grafted them into live mice, revealing new insights into the metabolic defects and a potential therapy for polycystic kidney disease.

‘Mini kidneys,’ or kidney organoids, are kidney-like structures grown in the lab using stem cells. In the study led by NTU’s Lee Kong Chian School of Medicine (LKCMedicine), researchers grew the organoids using skin cells derived from patients with polycystic kidney disease (PKD), a prevalent form of genetic condition that affects 1 in 1000 individuals across all ethnicities.[1]