Mini tissue spheres that mimic real tissues and stem cell neighborhoods
Official title: Probing Tissue Heterogeneity and Stem Cell Niche with Micro-Organospheres
Funded at Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation · NIH-11187052 · Data updated 2026-11-12
The team grows tiny tissue spheres from small adult tissue samples to recreate mixed cell environments so researchers can learn how cells and microbes behave and speed up lab testing that could help patients.
Quick facts
| Grant type | NIH-funded research |
|---|---|
| Study type | NIH-funded research |
| Funding institution | Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation NIH-funded |
| Lab location | 1 site (Woodland Hills, UNITED STATES) |
| Project start | April 1, 2017 |
| Project end | August 31, 2028 |
| Funding year | 2025 |
| Award (this year) | $681,990 |
| NIH project number | 5R35GM122465-09 |
| Project ID | NIH-11187052 on NIH RePORTER |
Who could benefit from this research
✓Could help
Adults who can donate small tissue samples (for example leftover surgical tissue or a biopsy) would be the most suitable contributors of material for this work.
✕Less likely to help
Children, people who cannot or will not donate tissue samples, or anyone seeking immediate clinical treatment are unlikely to gain direct benefit from this basic laboratory research.
What this research studies
They will grow miniature tissue spheres (Micro-OrganoSpheres, MOS) from small amounts of adult human tissue that keep multiple cell types and the local microenvironment intact. These MOS can be produced quickly and used in very large-scale lab tests aided by deep-learning analysis to track responses. The project will screen how different cell types respond to various microbes, develop combinatorial indexing to map local cell–cell interactions and spatial differences, and use engraftment plus live imaging to follow cell fate over time. The goal is a scalable lab platform that better mirrors real human tissues for studying biology and testing interventions.
Why it matters
Potential benefit: If successful, this could speed up and improve how researchers test treatments and study infections by providing faster, more realistic human tissue models.
How similar studies have gone: Related organoid and tissue-culture models have already helped researchers study diseases and drug responses, while MOS are a newer approach designed to be faster, more scalable, and better at preserving mixed cell environments.
Where this research is happening
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Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation
Woodland Hills, United States Active
Researchers
- Principal investigator: Shen, Xiling — Terasaki Institute for Biomedical Innovation
- Study coordinator: Shen, Xiling
About this research
- This is an active NIH-funded research project — typically early-stage science, not a clinical trial accepting patient enrollment.
- Some NIH-funded labs run parallel clinical studies or seek volunteers for related work. To check, contact the principal investigator or institution listed above.
- For full project details, budget, and progress reports, visit the official NIH RePORTER page.