ABSTRACT
Pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived organoids are miniature, three-dimensional human tissues generated by the application of developmental biological principles to PSCs in vitro. The approach to generate organoids uses a combination of directed differentiation, morphogenetic processes, and the intrinsically driven self-assembly of cells that mimics organogenesis in the developing embryo. The resulting organoids have remarkable cell type complexity, architecture and function similar to their in vivo counterparts. In the past five years, human PSC-derived organoids with components of all three germ layers have been generated, resulting in the establishment of a new human model system. Here, and in the accompanying poster, we provide an overview of how principles of developmental biology have been essential for generating human organoids in vitro, and how organoids are now being used as a primary research tool to investigate human developmental biology.
Footnotes
Competing interests
The authors declare no competing or financial interests.
Funding
The authors are supported by National Institutes of Health grants (R01DK092456, U18EB021780, U01DK103117, U19AI116491 to J.M.W.) and a fellowship from the American Diabetes Association (1-17-PDF-102 to H.A.M.). Deposited in PMC for release after 12 months.
Development at a Glance
A high-resolution version of the poster is available for downloading in the online version of this article at http://dev.biologists.org/content/144/6/958/F1.poster.jpg
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