Fig 1: Cellular sources for organoid generation and their current and potential applications.

(a) For in vitro generation of organoids, primary tissue containing organ-specific stem cells, ESCs-derived or iPSCs-derived spheroids are embedded in naturally-derived materials. Upon culture in specific growth factor cocktails, these materials promote formation of multicellular structures that contain multiple cell types and exhibit functions that recapitulate many aspects of the tissue of origin. (b) In vitro organoids are commonly used for modeling of organ development and disease (e.g. cancer). Potential future applications for organoids using biomaterials are organoid-based transplantation therapies and high-throughput drug screenings. Created with BioRender.