This lecture will be held virtually via Zoom (check email or contact ksas@seas.upenn.edu).

Recent protocols in developmental biology are unlocking the potential for stem cells to undergo differentiation and self-assembly to form “mini-organs,” known as organoids.

To bridge the gap from organoid building blocks (OBBs) to therapeutic functional tissues, integrative approaches that combine bottom-up organoid assembly with top-down bioprinting are needed. While it is difficult, if not impossible, to imagine how either organoids or bioprinting alone would fully replicate the complex multiscale features required for organ-specific function, their combination may provide an enabling foundation for de novo tissue manufacturing.

This talk will begin with Dr. Lewis describing her group’s recent efforts to generate organoids in vitro with perfusable microvascular networks that support their viability and maturation. Next, she will describe the generation of 3D vascularized organ-specific tissues by assembling OBBs into a living matrix that supports the embedded printing of macro-vessels by a process known as sacrificial writing in functional tissue (SWIFT). Though broadly applicable, Dr. Lewis will highlight recent work on kidney, cerebral and cardiac tissue engineering.