An emerging technique that uses lab-grown tiny human organs to study viral diseases can accelerate research on the novel coronavirus, and pave the way for new COVID-19 therapies, leading scientists say. "Organoids are lab-grown organs, which closely resemble human tissues that are relevant for disease," Josef Penninger, Director, Life Science Institute at the University of British Columbia (UBC) in Canada, told PTI.
In these human organ-like structures, Penninger said, scientists are beginning to perform more experiments to explore how the SARS-CoV-2 virus replicates in hosts, or even test vaccines and drugs against COVID-19.