Miniature organs grown in the lab can organize themselves into complex shapes. But they never do it the same way twice, which makes it hard to use these so-called “organoids” to study disease. Now, scientists at UC San Francisco have created a new material that helps organoids grow in a more predictable way.

Now, a team of researchers from Brown University, Rhode Island Hospital, and VA Providence Healthcare has shown progress in restoring two-way communication across a damaged site of the spinal cord.