Building Organs in the Lab: Bioengineered Organs used for Transplants for Surgery

One of the most pressing problems in modern healthcare is the shortage of donor organs. Every year, thousands of patients end up dead while waiting for a heart, kidney, or liver transplant. And even though organs are available, there are major obstacles when it comes to organ transplants. For example, donor organs can trigger immune reactions, requiring lifelong immunosuppressive drugs or full-on organ rejection. Additionally, donor-recipient matching must meet a wide range of criteria, such as blood type, size, and tissue compatibility, making it difficult to find a suitable match. This shortage and limitation leave medicine searching for alternatives beyond this traditional system.

So what is a potential solution? We could use lab-grown organs and organoids and incorporate them into transplant surgeries. So what exactly are organoids? Organoids are miniature versions of organs (heart, kidney, liver) grown from stem cells. For example, Stanford developed the first vascularized organoids (of the heart and liver) with functioning blood vessels, overcoming a major barrier in growing organoids. How would it integrate into surgery? These lab-grown organs are not just science experiments, they are being implanted surgically. For example, Pig organ scaffolds were able to re-cellularize with human cells and were able to function when surgically implanted in animal models.

Organoids give us a glimpse of a possible and relieving alternative for patients and healthcare in all. If we bring out the real value of these bioengineered organs, we can end organ shortages (ridding the unnecessary deaths) and grow organoids off of stem cells from the patient, eliminating the risk of rejection. Also, these organoids can act as biological models that allow us to safely and ethically test medication. These organoids offer us enormous value and can benefit society as a whole.

The incorporation of lab grown organs into surgical practice marks a shift in modern medicine, from replacement to regeneration, doctors may one day be able to engineer organs tailored to the patient, making the organ near perfect compatibility. By integrating these bioengineered tissues, it could open up an entirely new subspecialty of transplant surgery. These advances push medicine toward a future where regenerative techniques may apply not just to organs, but also blood vessels, skin, spinal chords, and more.

Written by Nathan Clemente at Incisionary

References:

Bai, N. (2025, June 5). Advances in creating organoids could aid research, lead to treatment. News Center. https://med.stanford.edu/news/all-news/2025/06/heart-organoid.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

https://www.facebook.com/Drugscom. (2025, February 5). FDA Approves Clinical Trials for Pig Kidney Transplants in Humans MedNews. Drugs.com. https://www.drugs.com/news/fda-approves-clinical-trials-pig-kidney-transplants-humans-123584.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Keck. (2025, September 17). Lab-grown kidney structures reach new maturity in step toward synthetic organs. Medicalxpress.com; Medical Xpress. https://medicalxpress.com/news/2025-09-lab-grown-kidney-maturity-synthetic.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com

Miromatrix Medical Inc. (2021, October 7). Miromatrix Announces the First Successful Transplant of a Bioengineered Whole Organ in a Large Animal. GlobeNewswire News Room; Miromatrix Medical Inc. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/10/07/2310106/0/en/Miromatrix-Announces-the-First-Successful-Transplant-of-a-Bioengineered-Whole-Organ-in-a-Large-Animal.html?utm_source=chatgpt.com