Organoid science is transforming how we explore women’s reproductive biology – offering living, human-relevant models where animal studies fall short. A recent Nature feature details how scientists are creating miniature placentas, ovaries, and endometrial tissues to investigate conditions such as pre-eclampsia, endometriosis, and reproductive aging.
Read more: Using Organoids to Understand the Human Body, Organ by Organ
The field’s promise was captured in a 2017 experiment at the University of Cambridge. Researcher Margherita Turco (now a reproductive biologist at the Friedrich Miescher Institute for Biomedical Research in Basel, Switzerland) coaxed stem cells to form what she suspected was the first placental organoid. To test its identity, she and mentor Ashley Moffett turned to an everyday tool: a pharmacy pregnancy test. The result was positive – the cluster secreted human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG), the same hormone detected in early pregnancy.
Cell clusters that resemble the uterine lining grow with support cells in a synthetic hydrogel.Credit: Juan Gnecco, Linda G. Griffith; Nature, The mini placentas and ovaries revealing the basics of women’s health.
Unlike flat cell cultures, these 3D organoids self-assemble into tissue-like structures that divide, communicate, and even mimic menstrual cycles. Placental models reveal how invasive cells carve channels into the uterine lining to nourish the embryo – a process that, if too shallow or too deep, can lead to dangerous complications such as pre-eclampsia or placenta accreta. Endometrial organoids are shedding light on the monthly regeneration of uterine lining and on disorders like endometriosis, while ovarian organoids help researchers track how aging changes the ovary’s stiffness and fertility potential. Vaginal organoids, meanwhile, provide a way to study microbial communities that are impossible to model in mice.
These miniature systems are not full organs, but their ability to capture key human processes – maternal–fetal dialogue, hormone cycling, cellular invasion – marks a profound shift. As Turco notes, “There’s so much work to do to understand the normal biology,” and these organoids are finally giving researchers the tools to do it.
Research article: The mini placentas and ovaries revealing the basics of women’s health
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