Self-organizing capacity of pluripotent stem cells to buildup 3D tissue architecture displaying unique layers of neural progenitors and differentiated neuronal and glial cells, enabled to emerge brain organoids as the only in vitro model of prenatal brain development. Thus, brain organoids field give promise to uncover still unidentified mechanistic principles of early human brain development, but also dysfunction and disorders. Integration of bioengineering and microfluidics to brain organoids permit further technological advancement in building vascularized and immunoreactive models for diagnostic and therapeutic applications.

The field of organoids and organs-on-a-chip have similar goals: discovering safer and more effective drugs and development of human disease models. While organ-on-a-chip devices generally incorporate only two to three cell types, organoids have significantly improved cellular fidelity. Integrative approaches promise to provide improved cellular fidelity in a format of a device that can control the geometry of the organoid, flow, and provide mechanical and electrical stimuli. Here, recent progress in the two fields will be discussed with a specific focus on cardiovascular models.