Australian researchers have almost perfected a method of growing mini-kidneys from stem cells for use in drug screening, disease modelling and cell therapy.

A team from the Murdoch Childrens Research Institute (MCRI) and University of Queensland became the first to grow parts of a kidney in a dish back in 2013.

The same team has taken big steps since then, and has now grown an organ that forms all the cell types normally present in the human kidney.

Researchers say they can guide the formation of the mini-organ in a process that mimics normal development, by adding different concentrations of growth factors at various times.

Their lab-grown kidneys are very similar to the kidney of a developing human foetus.

The groundbreaking work could allow the use of mini-organs to screen drugs to treat kidney disease or find out if a new drug is likely to injure the kidney.

“The mini-kidney we have been able to grow this time is very complex and more like the real organ... [and] we hope these mini-kidneys will respond to the drugs as a normal organ might,” says lead researcher Professor Melissa Little.

“Creating a model kidney containing many different kidney cell types also opens the door for cell therapy and even bioengineering of replacement kidneys.

“One day this may mean new treatments for patients with kidney failure.”

The new method allows researchers to make a miniature model kidney from any person, starting with cells such as skin or blood.

These cells are regressed back to a stem-cell-like form, before being encouraged to grow into a kidney.

“Making stem cells from patients with kidney disease, and then growing a mini-kidney that matches the patient, will help us understand that patient’s disease and develop treatments for them,” Professor Little said.

The finding will also allow researchers to learn more about how the human kidney forms normally.

More details are available in the latest report, published in the journal Nature.