Engineering 3D Vascularized Tissues for Regenerative Medicine

The survival and function of thick three-dimensional (3D) engineered tissues depend on rapid vascular integration; therefore, the development of pre-vascularized 3D constructs has become a central challenge in the field. Micro-scale multicellular spheroids have emerged as promising building blocks for recapitulating the heterogeneous microenvironment of vascularized native tissues, as they offer strong potential for promoting self-assembly, cell-cell communication, and vascular network formation within biomimetic matrices. Effectively harnessing spheroids for engineering vascularized tissue requires overcoming several technological challenges, including modulation of spheroid functionality and modularity, precise spatial localization and organization of spheroids, and induction of stable vascularized structures. Integrating cell-instructive biomaterials with spheroid systems may provide an effective strategy to address these challenges by creating a supportive and dynamic microenvironment that guides vasculogenesis, angiogenesis, and functional maturation. This presentation highlights our research efforts combining cell-instructive biomaterials with multicellular spheroids to engineer vascularized 3D constructs for regenerative medicine, with a particular emphasis on musculoskeletal tissue applications.

Heungsoo Shin received his Ph.D. in the Department of Bioengineering from Rice University, USA, in 2004, and served as a postdoctoral researcher in the Department of Mechanical Engineering at the Georgia Institute of Technology, USA. He joined the Department of Bioengineering at Hanyang University in Korea in 2006 and is presently a full professor. During his academic career, his research program focused on developing biofunctional materials for tissue engineering, including biomimetic surface modification of biomaterials, spheroid-based 3D tissue engineering, and immunomodulatory biomaterials. His contributions have resulted in over 180 publications (Total citations >16,000 | H-index 63 (Google Scholar, 2026). He has received multiple awards and was elected as a Fellow of Tissue Engineering Regenerative Medicine (TERM) and Biomaterials Science and Engineering (FBSE). He is currently a co-editor-in-chief of Tissue Engineering Part B: Reviews.