Engineering organoids and organ-on-chip models of the human vasculature

Blood vessels are fundamental to life and have critical roles in many diseases, such as chronic inflammation, diabetes and cancer. We previously developed self-organizing 3D human blood vessel organoids from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) that exhibit morphological, functional and molecular features of the human microvasculature. When exposed to diabetic conditions in vitro and in vivo, blood vessel organoids display prominent microvascular changes as observed in diabetic patients, whereas common diabetic mouse models fail to do so. Thus, human blood vessel organoids provide a novel window into the mechanism of diabetic vasculopathy, which is critical for the development of novel therapeutics. We are currently developing and applying immunocompetent human vascular models for preclinical drug testing of molecule efficacy and safety. Self-assembled 3D blood vessels on-a-chip mimic physiological immune adhesion to the capillary wall and extravasation into the tissue as well as molecule transport through an endothelial barrier in healthy an inflamed conditions. The increased usage and validation (such as clinical back translation) of such human in vitro models in pharma aims to improve the translation of pre-clinical research as well as the acceptance of in vitro data by regulatory authorities and thus to ultimately decrease the number of animal experiments.

Reiner Wimmer

Principal Scientist

Roche (pRED)

Reiner Wimmer holds a PhD from the University of Vienna and works currently as a principal scientist at Roche (pRED) in Basel, Switzerland. In his postdoc Reiner developed a novel human stem cell derived blood vessel organoid system (vascular organoids) which he used to gain novel insights into diabetic vascular complications. His work has been awarded by the Elizabeth-Lutz award of the Austrian Academy of Sciences, has led to the foundation of a biotech company (Angios Biotech) and to the commercialisation of a vascular organoid media kit by STEMCELL Technologies.

Reiner joined Roche in 2020 to lead an innovation project on functional vascularization. During this time, Reiner and the team developed a robust immune-competent vascular model that is now used for preclinical drug testing.

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Engineering organoids and organ-on-chip models of the human vasculature
Open to view video.  |   Closed captions available
Open to view video.  |   Closed captions available Blood vessels are fundamental to life and have critical roles in many diseases, such as chronic inflammation, diabetes and cancer. We previously developed self-organizing 3D human blood vessel organoids from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) that exhibit morphological, functional and molecular features of the human microvasculature. When exposed to diabetic conditions in vitro and in vivo, blood vessel organoids display prominent microvascular changes as observed in diabetic patients, whereas common diabetic mouse models fail to do so. Thus, human blood vessel organoids provide a novel window into the mechanism of diabetic vasculopathy, which is critical for the development of novel therapeutics. We are currently developing and applying immunocompetent human vascular models for preclinical drug testing for molecule efficacy and safety assessment. Self-assembled 3D blood vessels on-a-chip mimic physiological immune adhesion to the capillary wall and extravasation into the tissue as well as molecule transport through an endothelial barrier in healthy an inflamed conditions. The increased usage and validation (such as clinical back translation) of such human in vitro models in pharma aims to improve the translation of pre-clinical research as well as the acceptance of in vitro data by regulatory authorities and thus to ultimately decrease the number of animal experiments.
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