The combination of genetic engineering and human organoids has created new opportunities for studies of human genetics. It has already revealed some of the secrets of how human brains uniquely diverged from those of other primates,⁹ including Neanderthals.¹⁰ Organoids are also being used to investigate novel viruses and emerging diseases.¹¹

Future Horizons:

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5-yearhorizon

Models and answers become increasingly complex

Merging organoid and organ-on-chip technologies — the latter being a microfluidic chip that mimics the physiological behaviour of an organ — allows the study of inter-organ interactions. Large databases are developed covering many types of organoids and available data on proteomics. This leads to increased understanding of how perturbations resulting from medicines or genes affect physiology.

10-yearhorizon

Predictive models have proven efficacy

Several countries will have organoid banks the way cell and tissue banks exist today, used by academia and industry to understand diseases and their variability across different individuals. We increasingly understand the developmental processes involved with morphogenesis for complex structures. An understanding of the biochemical pathways of ageing allow us to rapidly age a brain organoid to study Alzheimer's disease. Animal and human embryoids are grown in a dish: humans for the first few weeks of development, animal models until organogenesis and further. Finally, the combination of paleogenomics, genome editing and organoid technology leads to novel insights on human evolution.

25-yearhorizon

Whole human on a chip appears

Given the ability to link several organoids and systems together, we find molecules that enhance reproductive health, prevent pregnancy loss and enhance foetal health. Better understanding of human development leads to new insights into how to augment foetal health and prevent diseases. Observing specific organoid cell types affected by specific mutations in one specific gene accelerates understanding of complex developmental disorders.

Organoids make it possible to study diseases that cannot be exhaustively studied in animals, such as uniquely human neuropsychiatric or neurodevelopmental diseases that affect the whole genome (schizophrenia, for example).¹² Brain organoids are already being used in the study of neurodegenerative disorders such as Alzheimer's¹³ and neurological disorders such as epilepsy.¹⁴

Organoids also promise to help us understand previously opaque processes in early foetal development. Many chronic diseases emerge during the first weeks of development (for example, cardiovascular disease) so understanding these pathways in a more transparent way is crucial for prevention. Embryoids could also help us understand why humans carry fewer pregnancies successfully to term than other animals, which could lead to improved fertility enhancers and contraceptives.

Foundational research - Anticipation Scores

The Anticipation Potential of a research field is determined by the capacity for impactful action in the present, considering possible future transformative breakthroughs in a field over a 25-year outlook. A field with a high Anticipation Potential, therefore, combines the potential range of future transformative possibilities engendered by a research area with a wide field of opportunities for action in the present. We asked researchers in the field to anticipate:

The uncertainty related to future science breakthroughs in the field
The transformative effect anticipated breakthroughs may have on research and society
The scope for action in the present in relation to anticipated breakthroughs.

This chart represents a summary of their responses to each of these elements, which when combined, provide the Anticipation Potential for the topic. See methodology for more information.