Inspired by a patient’s mysterious breathing disorder, MGH and MIT researchers set out to understand it by growing human airway cells in a dish. Derived from adult stem cells, the resulting tissue (seen here) allows a detailed view of cilia (hair-like filaments) in a fully differentiated airway epithelium—the respiratory tract’s frontline defense system. By manipulating genes in the model, the clinician-scientists were able to discover and characterize a rare genetic condition in the patient responsible for impaired ciliary function.

Read more about this project and its results here.