Engineered Liver Tissue Grows On-Demand In Mice

Researchers develop a synthetic biology strategy to trigger expansion of implanted liver constructs without requiring host liver injury.

Apr. 18, 2026 at 4:14am

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A highly textured, abstract painting in muted earth tones depicting a complex network of interlocking cellular structures, geometric shapes, and flowing organic forms, conceptually representing the biological processes underlying the on-demand growth of engineered liver tissue.Breakthrough research enables engineered liver tissue to expand and thrive when implanted, offering new hope for treating end-stage liver disease.Boston Today

A research team at the Wyss Institute, Boston University, and MIT has developed a new approach to grow liver tissue directly in the body, without requiring prior injury to the host liver. By genetically engineering liver cells and supportive cells to express specific growth factors and proteins, the researchers were able to trigger a 500% expansion of an implanted liver construct in healthy mice simply by administering an antibiotic. This 'BOOST' strategy could provide a new solution for treating end-stage liver disease by growing replacement tissue on-demand.

Why it matters

Liver transplants are in extremely high demand but limited supply, leaving many patients with end-stage liver disease without treatment options. This new approach to grow replacement liver tissue directly in the body could provide a way to bridge the gap until a transplant becomes available, or even potentially eliminate the need for a transplant altogether.

The details

The researchers first identified a set of four growth factors that could induce proliferation of isolated liver cells in a dish. However, these factors were ineffective at driving growth in dense, 3D liver tissue constructs. The team discovered that a protein called YAP, which senses mechanical signals, needs to be activated alongside the growth factors to override the density-dependent growth inhibition in the dense tissue. Using synthetic biology tools, the researchers engineered liver cells to express the non-degradable YAP protein, and engineered supportive cells to secrete the four growth factors, all under the control of an antibiotic trigger. When implanted in healthy mice and the mice were given the antibiotic, the engineered liver construct expanded by 500% in just 7 days, without causing any adverse effects.

  • The researchers screened growth factors and identified a set of four that could induce proliferation of isolated liver cells.
  • The engineered liver constructs were implanted in healthy mice and the mice were given the antibiotic for 7 days, resulting in a 500% expansion of the implanted tissue.

The players

Christopher Chen

William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Biological Design Center at Boston University, leader of the Wyss Institute's 3D Organ Engineering Initiative, and team lead of the ARPA-H PRINT-supported ImPLANT project.

Sangeeta Bhatia

John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT, and a Howard Hughes Medical Institute Investigator.

Amy Stoddard

Doctoral student at MIT who developed the BOOST strategy and continued the work as a postdoctoral fellow, co-mentored by Chen and Bhatia.

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What they’re saying

“We asked if it would be possible to first implant a small-scale liver construct and then drive it to expand in the body following its engraftment. A sufficiently grown, functional 'satellite liver' could immediately relieve the metabolic burden in a damaged liver and help bridge the time until a transplant becomes available.”

— Christopher Chen, William Fairfield Warren Distinguished Professor of Biomedical Engineering and Director of the Biological Design Center at Boston University

“Our BOOST strategy lays the foundation for a future when solid organ cell therapies can be controlled non-surgically according to the needs of patients and their physicians. Beyond treating liver disease, the premise of BOOST could be applied to other engineered tissue therapeutics that are similarly constrained by challenges associated with tissue scale-up, such as engineered heart or pancreatic tissue to address serious diseases.”

— Sangeeta Bhatia, John J. and Dorothy Wilson Professor of Health Sciences and Technology and of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science at the Koch Institute for Integrative Cancer Research at MIT

What’s next

The team plans to further explore the capacity of the BOOST-engineered liver tissue to rescue the host in the setting of liver injury.

The takeaway

This new approach to grow replacement liver tissue directly in the body could provide a transformative solution for treating end-stage liver disease by enabling on-demand expansion of implanted liver constructs without requiring prior injury to the host liver. The BOOST strategy also has potential applications for engineering other types of replacement tissues.