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Updated: May 15, 2026
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Microfluidic Bioprinting for Engineering Vascularized Tissues and Organoids
Published on: August 11, 2017
Biofabrication of Vascularized Tissues.
Jacob Schimelman1, Yazhi Sun1, Cheng Lyu1
1The Aiiso Yufeng Li Family Department of Chemical and Nano Engineering, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California 92093-0448, United States.
Chemical Reviews
|May 13, 2026
Summary
Creating functional vascular networks is key to scaling up biofabricated tissues into human organs. This review explores organoid and microfluidic models, scaffold recellularization, and biofabrication techniques to achieve this goal.
Area of Science:
- Biofabrication
- Biomaterials Engineering
- Stem Cell Biology
Background:
- Engineered tissues can mimic biological function but lack vascularization for organ-scale development.
- Scaling up engineered tissues to centimeter-scale organs is limited by the absence of functional vascular networks.
Purpose of the Study:
- To review complexities in generating physiological vasculature for engineered organs.
- To highlight progress in vascularization strategies over the past two decades.
Main Methods:
- Organoid-based and microfluidic platforms for vascular modeling.
- Recellularization of decellularized organ scaffolds.
- Bottom-up biofabrication for 3D vasculature construction.
Main Results:
- Synthesized insights from complementary approaches to identify design principles for vascular networks.
- Progress in creating hierarchical and functional vascular networks was discussed.
Conclusions:
- Scalable vascularization strategies are crucial for realizing biofabricated human organs.
- A roadmap is proposed for future advancements in organ engineering.
