Scaffold-Free Method Used to Create Airway Organoids

Using an organoid engineering approach called Multi-Organoid Patterning and Fusion (MOrFP), researchers from the University of Cambridge have cultured and grown a mini-airway without the need for external support. They describe their method in a paper published yesterday in Advanced Sciences.

"Mini-organs are very small and highly fragile," explained senior author Yan Yan Shery Huang. "In order to scale them up, which would increase their usefulness in medical research, we need to find the right conditions to help the cells self-organise."

Using MOrFP, Huang and her colleagues say they achieved faster assembly of organoids into airway tubes with uninterrupted passageways. The mini-airways grown using the MOrPF technique showed potential for scaling up to match living organ structures in size and shape, and retained their shape even in the absence of an external support.

The MOrPF technique involves several steps. First, a polymer mold is used to shape a cluster of many small organoids. The cluster is released from the mold after one day, and then grown for a further two weeks. The cluster becomes one single tubular structure, covered by an outer layer of airway cells. The molding process is just long enough for the outer layer of the cells to form an envelope around the entire cluster. During the two weeks of further growth, the inner walls gradually disappear, leading to a hollow tubular structure.

"Gradual maturation of the cells is really important," said Dr Joo-Hyeon Lee, who co-led the research. "The cells need to be well-organised before we can release them so that the structures don't collapse."