Open Philanthropy recommended a gift of $330,000 over two years to Stanford University to support a project led by Professor Mark Davis to develop a human organoid system for investigating immunological mechanisms and testing vaccine efficacy.
Organoids are clusters of cells that are produced by inducing differentiation of stem cells into some or all of the various cell types that comprise specific types of tissues and organs in animals. In some cases, the cells in organoids also assemble in ways that mimic the morphology found in animals.
This falls within Open Philanthropy’s focus area of scientific research.