Lab-grown organs getting closer to reality

SQI professor Wertheim collaborates across Chicago to advance organ science

Dr. Jason Wertheim was recently featured in Crain’s Chicago Business for his research into growing new kidneys.  Dr. Wertheim is collaborating with multiple teams to advance the science including Dr. Zaida Pinto from Dr. Sam Stupp’s group, as well as Dr. Jeffrey Hubbell from the Institute for Molecular Engineering at the University of Chicago.  The work receives significant support from a grant from the National Institutes of Health as well as a shared grant through the Chicago Biomedical Consortium. 

The results are impressive, but you shouldn’t place an order just yet.  Developing the right processes and measures is an important prerequisite to making progress.  “Science tends to be unpredictable,” says Wertheim “There's still a ways to go, and we can't really tell how far we are” from developing a functional kidney. “But if we can develop those benchmarks, that actually may give us a guide.”