Mission:

We aim to significantly improve human health

We create organoids-in-the-loop for improved drug discovery by combining advanced organoids, closed-loop automation, and AI

We provide pharma, academia & biotech with products, services & partnerships

Organoids:

Organoids are “mini-organs” in a dish

Until now, a lack of vascularization has limited human organoid viability & growth

We create scalable & reproducible heart & liver vascularized organoids, with additional subtypes in the pipeline

Beating Heart Organoid (Phase)

Beating Heart Organoid (Nkx-GFP)

Timelapse (16 days)-Vascularized Heart Organoid

20x Magnification-Vascularized Heart Organoid

Team:

Oscar Abilez, MD, PhD

Co-Founder

Organoids, software, hardware
MD - Cornell, PhD - Stanford, Bioengineering
Stanford - Surgery Resident, Instructor (NIH K01), Senior Scientist
20+ years experience in stem cell and organoid research

Andy Gooden, MSEE

Co-Founder

Software (AI/ML), hardware
MS - Stanford, Electrical Engineering & Computer Science
OpenX - Staff Data Scientist
Hewlett Packard - Lead Image Processing Engineer
25+ years experience in AI/ML

Bahram Fathollahi, PhD

Co-Founder

Microfluidics, automation
PhD - UCSD, Chemical Engineering
Acoustic Bio, Inc - Co-founder & CEO
Caliper Life Sciences - Director of Microfluidics R&D
25+ years experience in image-based microfluidic instruments

Relevant Publications:

Abilez OJ, et al., Gastruloids enable modeling of the earliest stages of human cardiac and hepatic vascularization. Science. 2025;388(6751):eadu9375. PMID: 40472086.

Abilez OJ, Javali A, Jones J, Rellan-Alvarez R, Sozzani R, Tzahor E. From bench to business: translating academic advances into industry innovations. Development. 2025;152(13). Epub 20250710. doi: 10.1242/dev.205007. PMID: 40637105.

Abilez OJ. Developing advanced organoids: challenges, progress, and outlook. Biotechniques. 2024;76(12):575-80. Epub 20250129. doi: 10.1080/07366205.2024.2442825. PMID: 39878095.

Venkateshappa R, Yildirim Z, Zhao SR, Wu MA, Vacante F, Abilez OJ, Wu JC. Protocol to study electrophysiological properties of hPSC-derived 3D cardiac organoids using MEA and sharp electrode techniques. STAR Protocols. 2024;5(4):103406. PMID: 39514393.

Ono Y, Shibata M, Ma X, Antunano MG, Sewell HL, Hanley F, Riemer RK, Abilez OJ. Novel strategy to preserve valve morphology for 3-dimensional analysis of rat pulmonary valves. JTCVS Structural and Endovascular. 2024;1-2:100010.

Nwokoye PN, Abilez OJ. Blood vessels in a dish: the evolution, challenges, and potential of vascularized tissues and organoids. Front Cardiovasc Med. 2024;11:1336910. PMID: 38938652.

Nwokoye PN, Abilez OJ. Bioengineering methods for vascularizing organoids. Cell Rep Methods. 2024;4(6):100779. PMID: 38759654.

Abilez OJ, Yang H, Tian L, Wilson KD, Lyall EH, Shen M, Bhoi R, Zhuge Y, Jia F, Wo HT, Zhou G, Guan Y, Aldana B, Obal D, Peltz G, Zarins CK, Wu JC. Micropatterned organoids enable modeling of the earliest stages of human cardiac vascularization. bioRxiv. 2022:2022.07.08.499233.

Yang H, Shao N, Holmström A, Zhao X, Chour T, Chen H, Itzhaki I, Wu H, Ameen M, Cunningham NJ, Tu C, Zhao MT, Tarantal AF, Abilez OJ, Wu JC. Transcriptome analysis of non-human primate induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes in 2D monolayer culture versus 3D engineered heart tissue. Cardiovascular Research. 2021 Jul 27;117(9):2125-2136. PMID: 33002105.

Wilson KD, Ameen M, Guo H, Abilez OJ, Tian L, Mumbach MR, Diecke S, Qin X, Liu Y, Yang H, Ma N, Gaddam S, Cunningham NJ, Gu M, Neofytou E, Prado M, Hildebrandt TB, Karakikes I, Chang HY, Wu JC. Endogenous retrovirus-derived lncRNA BANCR promotes cardiomyocyte migration in humans and non-human primates. Developmental Cell. 2020 Sep 28;54(6):694-709. PMID: 32763147.

Huang NF, Serpooshan V, Morris VB, Sayed N, Pardon G, Abilez OJ, Nakayama KH, Pruitt BL, Wu SM, Yoon YS, Zhang J, Wu JC. Big bottlenecks in cardiovascular tissue engineering. Commun Biol. 2018 Nov 21;1:199. PMID: 30480100.

Abilez OJ, Tzatzalos E, Yang H, Zhao MT, Jung G, Zöllner AM, Tiburcy M, Riegler J, Matsa E, Shukla P, Zhuge Y, Chour T, Chen VC, Burridge PW, Karakikes I, Kuhl E, Bernstein D, Couture LA, Gold JD, Zimmermann WH, Wu JC. Passive stretch induces structural and functional maturation of engineered heart muscle as predicted by computational modeling. Stem Cells. 2018 Feb;36(2):265-277. PMID: 29086457.

Kodo K, Ong SG, Jahanbani F, Termglinchan V, Hirono K, InanlooRahatloo K, Ebert AD, Shukla P, Abilez OJ, Churko JM, Karakikes I, Jung G, Ichida F, Wu SM, Snyder MP, Bernstein D, Wu JC. iPSC-derived cardiomyocytes reveal abnormal TGF-β signaling in left ventricular non-compaction cardiomyopathy. Nature Cell Biology. 2016 Oct;18(10). PMID: 27642787.

Abilez OJ, Wu JC. Stem cell reprogramming: A 3D boost. Nature Materials. 2016 Mar;15(3):259-61. PMID: 26906959.

Burridge PW, Matsa E, Shukla P, Lin ZC, Churko JM, Ebert AD, Lan F, Diecke S, Huber B, Mordwinkin NM, Plews JR, Abilez OJ, Cui B, Gold JD, Wu JC. Chemically defined generation of human cardiomyocytes. Nature Methods. 2014 Aug;11(8):855-60. PMID: 24930130.

Myers FB, Silver JS, Zhuge Y, Beygui RE, Zarins CK, Lee LP, Abilez OJ. Robust pluripotent stem cell expansion and cardiomyocyte differentiation via geometric patterning. Integrative Biololgy (Camb). 2013 Oct 18. PMID: 24141327.

Lan F, Lee AS, Liang P, Sanchez-Freire V, Nguyen PK, Wang L, Han L, Yen M, Wang Y, Sun N, Abilez OJ, Hu S, Ebert AD, Navarrete EG, Simmons CS, Wheeler M, Pruitt B, Lewis R, Yamaguchi Y, Ashley EA, Bers DM, Robbins RC, Longaker MT, Wu JC. Abnormal calcium handling properties underlie familial hypertrophic cardiomyopathy pathology in patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells. Cell Stem Cell. 2013 Jan 3;12(1):101-13. PMID: 23290139.

Myers FB, Zarins CK, Abilez OJ*, Lee LP*. Label-free electrophysiological cytometry for stem cell-derived cardiomyocyte clusters. Lab Chip. 2013 Jan 21;13(2):220-8. PMID: 23207961. (*co-corresponding authors) (cover article).

Sun N, Yazawa M, Liu J, Han L, Sanchez-Freire V, Abilez OJ, Navarrete EG, Hu S, Wang L, Lee A, Pavlovic A, Lin S, Chen R, Hajjar RJ, Snyder MP, Dolmetsch RE, Butte MJ, Ashley EA, Longaker MT, Robbins RC, Wu JC. Patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells as a model for familial dilated cardiomyopathy. Science Translational Med. 2012; 4 (130): 130ra47. PMID: 22517884.

Abilez O, Wong J, Prakash R, Deisseroth K, Zarins CK, Kuhl E. Multiscale computational models for optogenetic control of cardiac function. Biophysical Journal. 2011 Sep 21;101(6):1326-34. PMID: 21943413.

Abilez O, Benharash P, Miyamoto E, Gale A, Xu C, Zarins CK. P19 progenitor cells progress to organized contracting myocytes after chemical and electrical stimulation: implications for vascular tissue engineering. J Endovasc Ther. 2006 Jun;13(3):377-88. PMID: 16784327.

Abilez O, Benharash P, Mehrotra M, Miyamoto E, Gale A, Picquet J, Xu C, Zarins C. A novel culture system shows that stem cells can be grown in 3D and under physiologic pulsatile conditions for tissue engineering of vascular grafts. J Surg Res. 2006 May 15;132(2):170-8. PMID: 16542683.

Complete Publication List:

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