A research team has developed pioneering technology that enables human kidney organoids to be produced on a scalable basis. These organoids can then be combined with pig kidneys outside the body and transplanted back into the same animal in a viable manner.

The experiment, led by the Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia (IBEC), is in the preclinical phase. It confirms the safety and viability of the procedure, paving the way for future trials involving humans.

In the long term, this approach could help to extend the useful life of organs intended for transplantation and provide an alternative therapy for patients with chronic kidney disease.

Plankton are tiny and highly diverse marine organisms that can act as indicators for the health and biodiversity of ecosystems in the face of factors such as climate change. In one of the largest studies of its kind, researchers used a technique called ultrastructure expansion microscopy to extensively study the cellular structure of over 200 planktonic marine microbes. The study, recently published in the journal Cell, was part of a plug-in project for the EMBL-led Traversing European Coastlines (TREC) expedition, and takes the first steps towards a planetary atlas of plankton.

A research paper by scientists at The Chinese University of Hong Kong presented a new robotic bimodal palpation technique utilizing circumferential and sliding B-scan modes along with Bayesian optimization for precise lesion center and boundary detection..

The research paper, published on Sept. 2, 2025 in the journal Cyborg and Bionic Systems.