Researchers led by Maike Sander, Scientific Director of the Max Delbrück Center, have developed a vascularized organoid model of hormone secreting cells in the pancreas. The advance, published in “Developmental Cell,” promises to improve diabetes research and cell-based therapies.

An international team of researchers led by Max Delbrück Center Scientific Director Professor Maike Sander has for the first time developed an organoid model of human pluripotent stem cell-derived pancreatic islets (SC-islets) with integrated vasculature. Islets are cell clusters in the pancreas that house several different types of hormone-secreting cells, including insulin-producing beta cells. Researchers in the Sander lab at the University of California, San Diego, found that SC-islet organoids with blood vessels contained greater numbers of mature beta cells and secreted more insulin than their non-vascularized counterparts. The vascularized organoids more closely mimicked islet cells found in the body. The study was published in “Developmental Cell.”

“Our results highlight the importance of a vascular network in supporting pancreatic islet cell function,” says Sander. “This model brings us closer to replicating the natural environment of the pancreas, which is essential for studying diabetes and developing new treatments.”