Scientists at the University of Basel report a three-dimensional human bone marrow model built entirely from human cells. The lab-grown system replicates the endosteal niche and sustains blood cell production for weeks, a step that could accelerate blood cancer research and reduce some animal testing.
Researchers from the Department of Biomedicine at the University of Basel and University Hospital Basel say they have recreated the cellular complexity of human bone marrow using only human cells, marking a first for a single system that captures all key components of the endosteal niche, according to the university. The work is described in Cell Stem Cell.
The team, led by Professor Ivan Martin and Dr. Andrés García-García, began with a porous scaffold made of hydroxyapatite—the mineral found in bone and teeth—and integrated human cells reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells. Under guided developmental cues, those cells differentiated into multiple bone marrow cell types within the scaffold, yielding a macro‑scale construct that mirrors the endosteal niche’s architecture and diversity.
The model measures roughly 8 millimeters in diameter and 4 millimeters in thickness. It includes the niche’s hallmark elements near the bone surface—blood vessels, immune cells, nerves, and bone cells—and maintained human blood formation in the lab for several weeks, according to the University of Basel and related summaries of the study.
“We have learned a great deal about how bone marrow works from mouse studies,” Professor Martin said. “However, our model brings us closer to the biology of the human organism. It could serve as a complement to many animal experiments in the study of blood formation in both healthy and diseased conditions.”
The researchers say the platform could support drug development and, longer term, enable patient‑specific versions to test therapies for blood cancers. For screening applications, however, miniaturization will be needed. “For this specific purpose, the size of our bone marrow model might be too large,” Dr. García‑García noted, adding that further refinements are required before high‑throughput testing or personalized treatment selection become feasible.
