Large-Scale Production of Kidney Organoids from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Kidney organoids differentiated from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) have advanced the study of kidney diseases by providing an in vitro system that outperforms traditional monolayer cell culture and complements animal models. This chapter describes a simple two-stage protocol that generates kidney organoids in suspension culture in less than 2 weeks. In the first stage, hPSC colonies are differentiated into nephrogenic mesoderm. In the second stage of the protocol, renal cell lineages develop and self-organize into kidney organoids that contain fetal-like nephrons with proximal and distal tubule segmentation. A single assay generates up to 1000 organoids, thereby providing a rapid and cost-efficient method for the bulk production of human kidney tissue. Applications include the study of fetal kidney development, genetic disease modelling, nephrotoxicity screening, and drug development.