Cited by 1,1843D Printing in Biomedical ResearchTissue Engineering and Regenerative MedicineCellular Mechanics and Interactions

Engineering organoids

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Hofer, Moritz, Lutolf, Matthias P.·2021·Nature Reviews Materials

Abstract

Organoids are in vitro miniaturized and simplified model systems of organs that have gained enormous interest for modelling tissue development and disease, and for personalized medicine, drug screening and cell therapy. Despite considerable success in culturing physiologically relevant organoids, challenges remain to achieve real-life applications. In particular, the high variability of self-organizing growth and restricted experimental and analytical access hamper the translatability of organoid systems. In this Review, we argue that many limitations of traditional organoid culture can be addressed by engineering approaches at all levels of organoid systems. We investigate cell surface and genetic engineering approaches, and discuss stem cell niche engineering based on the design of matrices that allow spatiotemporal control of organoid growth and shape-guided morphogenesis. We examine how microfluidic approaches and lessons learnt from organs-on-a-chip enable the integration of mechano-physiological parameters and increase accessibility of organoids to improve functional readouts. Applying engineering principles to organoids increases reproducibility and provides experimental control, which will, ultimately, be required to enable clinical translation.

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  1. [98]Collins, S. D. et al. in Hepatocellular Carcinoma Ch. 3 (ed. Tirnitz-Parker, J. E. E.) 47–67 (Codon Publications, 2019). 31664798

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Authors
Hofer, M., & Lutolf, M. P.
Affiliations
École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (CH)
Venue
Nature Reviews Materials
Published
2021-02-19
Volume
6
Issue
5
Pages
402-420
ISSN
2058-8437 (ISSN-L)
OpenAlex
W4211240480
Cited by
1,184
References
277
Citations by year
2026: 189 · 2025: 275 · 2024: 256 · 2023: 226 · 2022: 168 · 2021: 70
FWCI
15.41
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
Locations
  • Nature Reviews Materials (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed Central (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
  • Infoscience (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne) (submittedVersion, cc-by-nc-nd)
Funders
  • National Science Foundation
  • European Commission (H2020-MSCA-ITN, H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018, HORIZON2020, H2020, 668294, MSCA-ITN-2018, H2020-MSCA)
  • École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne
  • Schweizerischer Nationalfonds zur Förderung der Wissenschaftlichen Forschung (179447, 310030)
  • Vienna Science and Technology Fund
  • Board of the Swiss Federal Institutes of Technology
  • Horizon 2020 Framework Programme (MSCA‐ITN‐2018, H2020-MSCA, 668,294, H2020-MSCA-ITN-2018, H2020-MSCA-ITN)
Topics
  • Physical Sciences › Engineering › Biomedical Engineering › 3D Printing in Biomedical Research
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Surgery › Tissue Engineering and Regenerative Medicine
  • Life Sciences › Biochemistry, Genetics and Molecular Biology › Cell Biology › Cellular Mechanics and Interactions
Keywords
organoids, organoid engineering, organoid culture, cell surface engineering, genetic engineering, morphogenesis, microfluidics, organ-on-a-chip, mechanobiology, reproducibility, translational medicine, drug screening, personalized medicine

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