Organoids: A historical perspective of thinking in three dimensions
Abstract
In the last ten years, there has been a dramatic surge in the number of publications where single or groups of cells are grown in substrata that have elements of basement membrane leading to the formation of tissue-like structures referred to as organoids. However, this field of research began many decades ago, when the pioneers of cell culture began to ask questions we still ask today: How does organogenesis occur? How do signals integrate to make such vastly different tissues and organs given that the sequence of the genome in our trillions of cells is identical? Here, we summarize how work over the past century generated the conceptual framework that has allowed us to make progress in the understanding of tissue-specific morphogenetic programs. The development of cell culture systems that provide accurate and physiologically relevant models are proving to be key in establishing appropriate platforms for the development of new therapeutic strategies.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Pub Defense Publication
- Publication Date
- Dec 28, 2016
- Source ID
- 10.1083/jcb.201610056
Entities
People
- Marina Simian
- Mina Bissell
Organizations
- Instituto Nacional del Cáncer
- Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory
- Ministry of Health of Argentina
- National Cancer Institute
- National University of General San Martín
- The Breast Cancer Research Foundation
- United States Department of Defense
- United States Department of Energy