Cell reports methodsMay 17, 2024

Engineering methods to create blood vessels in organ-like tissues

Regenerative Health Weekly Brief ↗PubMed ↗DOI ↗

Updated Mar 25, 2026

Abstract

Bioengineering strategies are rapidly advancing to enable efficient vascularization of organoids.

Organoids are three-dimensional structures derived from stem cells that can model organ development and diseases.
The lack of an integrated vascular network limits the translational potential of organoids.
Various methods for vascularization include co-culturing with vascular cell types and using organoid-on-a-chip technology.
3D bioprinting is also being explored to create organoids with perfusable vasculature.
The integration of stem cell biology, biomaterials, and fabrication technologies may lead to more complex organoid models.

Simplified

Organoids, self-organizing three-dimensional (3D) structures derived from stem cells, offer unique advantages for studying organ development, modeling diseases, and screening potential therapeutics. However, their translational potential and ability to mimic complex in vivo functions are often hindered by the lack of an integrated vascular network. To address this critical limitation, bioengineering strategies are rapidly advancing to enable efficient vascularization of organoids. These methods encompass co-culturing organoids with various vascular cell types, co-culturing lineage-specific organoids with vascular organoids, co-differentiating stem cells into organ-specific and vascular lineages, using organoid-on-a-chip technology to integrate perfusable vasculature within organoids, and using 3D bioprinting to also create perfusable organoids. This review explores the field of organoid vascularization, examining the biological principles that inform bioengineering approaches. Additionally, this review envisions how the converging disciplines of stem cell biology, biomaterials, and advanced fabrication technologies will propel the creation of increasingly sophisticated organoid models, ultimately accelerating biomedical discoveries and innovations.

Full Text

We can’t show the full text here under this license.

View Full Text ↗

Funding

Competing interests

Declaration of interests Stanford University has filed a patent application that covers the generation of vascularized organoids (US patent application numbers 63/314,958 and US2023/013997). O.J.A. is a co-founder of Bullseye Biotechnologies and a consultant for Rosebud Biosciences and CytoHub.

PubMed

Engineering methods to create blood vessels in organ-like tissues

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week:

Abstract

Full Text

Funding

Competing interests

Related papers

You found one interesting study. We’ll send the next 7.

What Lands in Your Inbox Each Week: