Labs study mini brains and lungs. Next up: snake venom gland organoids

Dr. Hans Clevers, one of the world’s foremost organoid experts, is at it again: Instead of the human cells that his team in the Netherlands usually works with, they report in a new study growing miniature versions of snake venom glands. His graduate students happened to know someone who supplied venomous cobra eggs. The team removed the snake from the egg before it hatched, extracted tissue samples, and used the samples to grow organoids of the venom gland. They first did this with the Cape coral snake, and repeated the process with eight other species. The real advancement came when these miniature glands also produced venom, as these lab-made toxins could now be a source for new drugs. The method could also offer a less laborious alternative to finding antivenoms to prevent the nearly 140,000 fatal snakebites every year.