Hans Clevers
Organoids & adult stem cells (Lgr5) · b. 1957
Hans Clevers and colleagues identified Lgr5 as a marker of cycling stem cells in the mouse intestinal crypt and used lineage tracing to show contribution to intestinal epithelial lineages. Subsequent work showed that single Lgr5-expressing cells could form self-organising intestinal organoids under defined culture conditions.
Organoids are valuable research models for development, disease and drug testing, but an organoid result is not automatically a therapy or evidence of benefit in patients. See the Lgr5 lineage-tracing paper and the intestinal-niche and organoid study.
Most clinical uses of stem cells remain investigational — check the evidence and approval status for your condition before acting on any clinic's claims.