Engineering multicellular living systems—A Keystone Symposia report

• Type of Material: Article
• Authors: Jennifer Cable, PhD Science Writer; Paola Arlotta, Harvard University; Kevin Kit Parker, Harvard University; Alex J. Hughes, University of Pennsylvania; Katharine Goodwin, Princeton University; Christine L. Mummery, Leiden University; Roger D. Kamm, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Sandra J. Engle, Biogen; Danilo A. tagle, National Institutes of Health; Sylvia F. Boj, Hubrecht Organoid Technology; Alice E. Stanton, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Yoshihiro Morishita, RIKEN Center for Biosystems Dynamics Research; Melissa L. Kemp, Emory University; Dennis A. Norfleet, Emory University; Elebeoba E. May, University of Houston; Aric Lu, Harvard University; Rashid Bashir, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign; Adam W. Feinberg, Carnegie Mellon University; Sarah M. Hull, Stanford University; Anjelica L. Gonzalez, Yale University; Michael R. Blatchley, University of Colorado, Boulder; Núria Montserrat Pulido, Institute for Bioengineering of Catalonia; Ryuji Morizane, Massachusetts General Hospital; Todd C. McDevitt, University of California, San Francisco; Deepak Mishra, Massachusetts Institute of Technology; Adriana Mulero-Russe, Georgia Institute of Technology
• Language: English
• Date: 2022-09-30
• Publisher: John Wiley and Sons
• Publication Version: Author Accepted Manuscript (After Peer Review)
• Copyright Statement: © 2022 New York Academy of Sciences.
• Final Published Version (URL): https://doi.org/10.1111/nyas.14896
• Title of Journal or Parent Work: Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences
• Volume: 1518
• Issue: 1
• Start Page: 183
• End Page: 195
• Grant/Funding Information: National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences, Grant/Award Number: UH3TR002155; National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, Grant/Award Numbers: DP2DK133821, U01DK127587; R.M. received the following funding: NIDDK: DP2DK133821 and U01DK127587; NCATS: UH3TR002155.
• Keywords: multicellular; engineered living; systems; engineered organs; computational
• Research Categories: Engineering, Biomedical; Engineering, Robotics

Abstract

The ability to engineer complex multicellular systems has enormous potential to inform our understanding of biological processes and disease and alter the drug development process. Engineering living systems to emulate natural processes or to incorporate new functions relies on a detailed understanding of the biochemical, mechanical, and other cues between cells and between cells and their environment that result in the coordinated action of multicellular systems. On April 3–6, 2022, experts in the field met at the Keystone symposium “Engineering Multicellular Living Systems” to discuss recent advances in understanding how cells cooperate within a multicellular system, as well as recent efforts to engineer systems like organ-on-a-chip models, biological robots, and organoids. Given the similarities and common themes, this meeting was held in conjunction with the symposium “Organoids as Tools for Fundamental Discovery and Translation”.