Enhancing kidney organoid maturity with inducible vascularization: another step forward for in vitro modeling

Kidney organoids represent a tangible in vitro system in which to model disease, identify novel therapeutics, and investigate cellular and physiological mechanisms. However, their relative immaturity and insufficient endowment of critical cell types limits their translational efficacy. Addressing a number of these shortcomings, Maggiore et al. present a novel genetically inducible vascularized kidney organoid model. Organoids develop a robust endothelial network with kidney-specific features that enhances podocyte maturity and supports the generation of functional renin+ cells.