Intestinal Stem Cell Niche Insights Gathered from Both In Vivo and Novel In Vitro Models

Figure 2

Engineering the ISC niche in vitro. Bioengineering approaches could further increase the tractability of organoid models and their fidelity to the real intestine. Synthetic matrices simplify the complexity of Matrigel and offer a powerful new toolkit with which to examine the effects of individual or combinations of ECM and mechanical niche signals. Microengineering approaches can be used to introduce spatial and temporal control over the biochemical and biophysical environment of ISCs, thereby mimicking the native niche more closely.