{"id":54734,"date":"2025-11-11T16:32:52","date_gmt":"2025-11-11T21:32:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/?p=54734"},"modified":"2025-11-25T10:15:52","modified_gmt":"2025-11-25T15:15:52","slug":"a-new-era-for-organoids","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/impact\/a-new-era-for-organoids\/","title":{"rendered":"A New Era for Organoids"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Abstract
Image of a human fallopian tube alongside organoids developed by Denis Wirtz\u2019s research group. These 3D maps aid in culturing biomaterials in vitro that replicate the complexity of real organs and potentially can contribute to advances in 3D bioprinting. <\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Researchers have long grown three dimensional living tissues called organoids to study how healthy tissues work, what happens when disease strikes, and to test new drugs and other therapies, all without risk to humans. Now, a team led by Denis Wirtz<\/a>, the Theophilus Halley Smoot Professor of chemical and biomolecular engineering and vice provost for research, is mapping entire organs in exquisite detail, cell by cell, creating tissue blueprints that allow scientists to culture organoids with far greater precision. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wirtz\u2019s team built the first complete 3D cellular model of the human pancreas, revealing that most people have precancerous lesions previously considered definitive cancer markers. Wirtz likens these lesions to skin moles: Many people have moles, but not all become cancerous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\n
\n

\u201cWe\u2019re building next-gen organoids. Maybe from here we can really go nuts and not do one organ but 25, because\u2026 why not? Now, we have the tools to do it.\u201d \u2014 Denis Wirtz<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Such knowledge can serve as a guardrail against expensive and unnecessary overtreatment. He\u2019s done similar work on ovaries, fallopian tubes, and endometrial tissues to study ovarian cancer and endometriosis. His team even mapped every cell in a fetal rhesus macaque monkey, Wirtz says, cueing up a dramatic illustration. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis is the first-ever 3D reconstruction of the auditory system of any organism. The nervous system. The skeletal system. The GI tract. The whole urinary system,\u201d Wirtz says. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crux of their approach is their ability to identify and locate every cell type in a tissue sample at submicron resolution across the entire organ. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe have this completely cutting- edge computing advantage,\u201d Wirtz says. \u201cWith it we can see, \u2018Oh, epithelia go here, muscle here, blood vessel over there.\u2019\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The result is not just finely accurate 3D digital models, but better blueprints for bioprinters to realize a new era of organoid science. \u201cWe\u2019re building next-gen organoids. Maybe from here we can really go nuts and not do one organ but 25, because\u2026 why not?” Wirtz asks. “Now, we have the tools to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By mapping the myriad cells in human organs with 3D precision, Denis Wirtz and his team are growing living human tissues in the lab.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":54737,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[34],"tags":[],"issue":[104],"class_list":["post-54734","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-impact","issue-fall-2025"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nA New Era for Organoids - Johns Hopkins Engineering Magazine<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"By mapping the myriad cells in human organs with 3D precision, Denis Wirtz and his team are growing living human tissues in the lab.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/engineering.jhu.edu\/magazine\/impact\/a-new-era-for-organoids\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A New Era for Organoids - 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