Studying the effects of drugs and disease in humans can be tricky business, but scientists are making great inroads in developing lab-grown versions of organs and body parts that offer powerful platforms for experimentation. Research in this area has now led to first-of-a-kind bone marrow “organoids” that bear the key features of the real thing and that their creators hope can lead to a new breed of bespoke treatments for cancer.

By using stem cells as a starting point, scientists have managed to produce lab-grown versions of an impressive array of human body parts. The list so far includes brains, blood vessels and lungs, and is growing rapidly, with these miniaturized models serving as next-gen research tools to study disease and develop drugs that can improve outcomes for patients.

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Scientists at Oxford University and the University of Birmingham are now claiming another first in this area. The team took human stem cells and grew them in a purpose-built 3D scaffold designed to drive their maturation into the key cell types you’d find in living human bone marrow.

Read more: New Atlas