Scientists study the underlying causes of a disease or test potential new drugs in animal models or cells obtained from human biopsy specimens before clinical trials. However, disease models in animals do not mimic actual human disease, and biopsy specimens are difficult to access for research purposes.
Lab-grown tissues engineered from stem cells reprogrammed from human cells, called human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs), are rapidly emerging as a more reliable and accessible model in medical research.