Fluorescent microscopy image showing clusters of cells with blue nuclei, magenta cytoplasm, and green structures. The colors highlight different cell components in a tissue sample, likely used for biological or medical research.

Harnessing Early Progenitors to Grow Healthy Kidney Tissue Inside the Body

February 18, 2026 | Categories: Research | Tagged: ,

The Freedman Lab used a single pool of stem cells to generate multiple cell types crucial for kidney function and showed it may be more effective to kickstart this process in vivo instead of engineering tissue outside the body for transplantation.  Read More

Side-by-side images of PKD mini-kidneys: the untreated one (left) appears smoother, while the one given readthrough drug (right) looks more structured or textured. Each is about 1mm wide.

Freedman Lab Discovers Promising New Therapeutic for PKD in Tailor-Made Organoids

April 4, 2024 | Categories: Core Faculty, Research | Tagged: , , ,

In a new study published in Cell Stem Cell, the Freedman Lab shows that a drug known to be safe in humans inhibits the growth of cysts in gene-edited organoids with polycystic kidney disease. Read More

A gloved hand holds a clear plastic cell culture plate containing wells with visible cell colonies or clusters in a laboratory setting.

Mini-kidney organoids reveal renal disease secrets

October 2, 2017 | Categories: Research | Tagged: , ,

Kidney organoids are revealing both the factors that influence the formation of kidney cysts, as well as how the disease progresses. The organoids are grown in labware from human stem cells. Polycystic kidney disease affects 12 million people. Until recently, scientists have been unable to recreate the progression of this human disease in a laboratory setting. Read More

Allen Institute researchers have found astonishing variability of the intracellular organization inside human stem cells.

New portal vividly reveals the diversity of cell structures

April 5, 2017 | Categories: Announcements | Tagged: , , , , ,

Textbook diagrams of cells show a cursory membrane, nucleus and mitochondria. They have never adequately conveyed cells’ variation and complexity. Seattle’s Allen Institute for Cell Science has unveiled an online portal with stunning […] Read More

A mini-kidneyorganoid of 1 mm diameter grown from a patient's stem cells.

Mini-kidney organoids re-create disease in lab dishes

October 23, 2015 | Categories: Research | Tagged: , , , ,

Stem-cell biology and gene editing advances offer hope for kidney regeneration, drug discovery Mini-kidney organoids that re-create human kidney disease have now been grown in laboratory petri dishes. The achievement, […] Read More