MIT Engineers Steer Blood Vessel Growth on a Chip With 5% Mechanical Stretch
Updated
Updated · MIT News · Jul 14
MIT Engineers Steer Blood Vessel Growth on a Chip With 5% Mechanical Stretch
3 articles · Updated · MIT News · Jul 14
Summary
A postage-stamp-sized MIT device grew a central human artery that sprouted more capillaries when researchers mechanically jostled it with magnets embedded in a nutrient gel.
At 5% stretch, significantly more new vessels formed; at 15%, fewer sprouted but they grew longer, and changing the stretch direction redirected where the capillaries extended.
PIEZO1 emerged as a key trigger: endothelial cells edited to suppress the gene produced far fewer new vessels even under the same mechanical stimulation.
The method addresses a major bottleneck in tissue engineering, where artificial muscles, livers and kidneys still lack reliably patterned microvessels needed to deliver nutrients and function after implantation.
MIT said the approach could enable reproducible vascular networks for engineered tissues and is now being tested to see whether precise vessel patterning can improve artificial muscle function.
MIT researchers have made a major breakthrough in tissue engineering by developing a method to precisely control the growth and direction of artificial blood vessels using mechanical stretching. This approach addresses the long-standing challenge of creating functional lab-grown tissues and organs, which require a well-organized blood supply. By embedding a main artery in a gel and applying mechanical forces with magnets, the team was able to mimic the natural environment of living tissues. This mechanical stimulation changed how new vessels sprouted, allowing for programmable and organized blood vessel growth, which is essential for building viable artificial organs.