Scientists transform human intestinal cells into ‘mini guts’ to follow infection process The researchers were able to monitor the virus’s growth in organoids derived from human intestinal cells. Pink and red show areas of SARS-CoV-2 infection. Credit: Mohammed Shahraz, Sergio Triana/EMBL; Camila Metz-Zumaran/Heidelberg University EMBL scientists, together with collaborators from Heidelberg University, have provided further evidence of the gut’s role in COVID-19. In an effort to determine the potential for COVID-19 to begin in a person’s gut, and to better understand how human cells respond to SARS-CoV-2, the scientists used human intestinal cells to create organoids – 3D tissue cultures derived from human cells, which mimic the tissue or organ from which the cells originate. Their conclusions, published in the journal Molecular Systems Biology, indicate the potential for infection to be harboured in a host’s intestines and reveal intricacies in the immune response to SARS-CoV-2.