Wonder Gland

“All models are wrong, some are useful” said statistician George Box – we might say something similar about living models like organoids. Grown in a lab from stem cells, this mouse organoid mimics the early development of the pituitary gland. While it’s not an exact copy, fluorescent markers highlight stem cells (red) and pituitary proteins (green), as a high-powered microscope zooms through different levels of cells (all highlighted in blue). Researchers examine the organoid in ways that would be impossible in the real organ – using growth factors to guide the tissue’s growth, or watching as stem cells react to heal damage. The real gland, a pea-sized structure at the base of our brains, produces several essential hormones. Watching how groups of stem cells work in these organoids gives useful clues to how the it might go awry in mice and humans alike.

Written by John Ankers

John Ankers

Writer

A former researcher in systems biology, John is now an online biology tutor and professional coach supporting the wellbeing of scientists and NHS professionals. He's writing, too, of course.

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• Video from work by Emma Laporte and colleagues
• Laboratory of Tissue Plasticity in Health and Disease, Cluster of Stem Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of Development and Regeneration, KU Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
• Video originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in eLife, July 2022