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Updated: Feb 13, 2026

Generation of 3D Whole Lung Organoids from Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells for Modeling Lung Developmental Biology and Disease
Published on: April 12, 2021
Modeling human diseases with induced pluripotent stem cells: from 2D to 3D and beyond
Chun Liu1,2,3, Angelos Oikonomopoulos1,2,3, Nazish Sayed1,2,3
1Stanford Cardiovascular Institute, Stanford, CA 94035, USA.
Abstract:
The advent of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) presents unprecedented opportunities to model human diseases. Differentiated cells derived from iPSCs in two-dimensional (2D) monolayers have proven to be a relatively simple tool for exploring disease pathogenesis and underlying mechanisms. In this Spotlight article, we discuss the progress and limitations of the current 2D iPSC disease-modeling platform, as well as recent advancements in the development of human iPSC models that mimic in vivo tissues and organs at the three-dimensional (3D) level. Recent bioengineering approaches have begun to combine different 3D organoid types into a single '4D multi-organ system'. We summarize the advantages of this approach and speculate on the future role of 4D multi-organ systems in human disease modeling.
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