Direct exposure of the lungs to the environment makes them suspectable to various injuries caused by toxic chemicals and microbial agents. Many of these injuries often lead to acute or chronic lung diseases such as COPD, Asthma, IPF, and ARDS. A great deal of work from mouse models has advanced our understanding of the repair and regeneration of the lung. Despite these advances, we currently do not have a complete understanding of complex cell-cell interactions and how they influence stem cell fate in normal, regenerating, and disease tissue. Studying these interactions in in-vivo models has been a major challenge because of the lack of tools and techniques. To overcome these limitations, organoid technology emerged as a great tool for disease modelling, studying cell-cell interaction, and therapeutic discovery.

The lung organoids can be generated from stem/progenitor cells from both airways and alveoli. However, the successful establishment of organoids starts with isolation of pure stem/progenitor population and is influenced by various factors such feeder cell type, type of scaffold required for 3D organization, growth conditions, and nutrient supplements. Variability in these factors often results in nonreproducible results.

This methods collection aims to establish a resource hub for researchers, which include detailed protocols for cell type isolation, establishment of epithelial cell-specific organoids, organoids for disease modelling, and protocols for gene manipulations in organoids. Besides, this methods collection will also accept manuscripts from topics such as long-term and short-term expansion of organoids, biobanking, and protocols for cell engraftment into mouse models.