HUN-REN Biological Research Centre, Szeged 
Oct 2, 2026 | News
Ákos Diósdi and Péter Horváth, researchers at the HUN-REN Biological Research Centre in Szeged, have co-authored an article with Fabian J. Theis in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology, but it does not present a new experimental finding. Its scope is far broader: they have set out a strategic direction for the future of research on artificial tissue-like models, giving the international research community a roadmap that could shape the development of the field for years to come.
Science is not only about breakthroughs: a sound strategy can often benefit more researchers than a single spectacular result. Knowing which directions are worth pursuing, how methods can be harmonised and which technologies could underpin the next generation of model systems can speed up research, cut costs and make development more efficient. This is the kind of strategic direction that the Hungarian researchers have outlined in a Comment published in one of the most prestigious journals in molecular and cell biology.
Artificial tissues can help us understand the human body better
Modern biology is moving ever closer to studying how the human body works with artificially created, tissue-like models. These systems – known as 3D-oids, and including organoids and assembloids – are no longer simple clusters of cells but miniature, organ-like structures that in many respects mimic how real human tissues function.
The article describes how these models can be developed further to improve our understanding of how cells communicate and of complex biological processes. This could reduce the need for animal testing and, in the longer term, bring us closer to artificial tissues and organs that might even be used for therapeutic purposes.
“Our aim is not simply to create ever more complex models. What matters is that tissue-like samples are used in a standardised, reproducible way, so that many laboratories can use them to investigate the same questions and obtain comparable results. If we succeed, 3D-oids will become genuine platforms. This industrial-scale standardisation will make everything from basic research to drug development faster, cheaper and more predictable,” says Ákos Diósdi.
The image shows a three-dimensional reconstruction of a tumour-derived spheroid (tissue or 3D cell culture), with cell nuclei labelled in red.
Artificial intelligence could piece together the full picture
The key is to avoid examining different aspects of cellular function in isolation. It is not enough to know which genes are active in a cell: its shape, its position within the tissue, the other cells it is in contact with and its molecular state matter too.
The models of the future will bring all of this information together in a single system, and artificial intelligence may increasingly supply the analytical power needed to do so.
“Today we can already generate vast amounts of molecular, imaging and spatial data from the same biological system. The real challenge is to avoid interpreting them separately. Artificial intelligence can help us combine these different layers of information into a single, much more complete picture of how a tissue functions,” says Péter Horváth.
The figure shows the spatial distribution of objects automatically detected in a spheroid sample. The regions highlighted in green are structures identified by the image-processing algorithm, which represent the spatial arrangement of cells within the spheroid.
The Comment published in Nature Reviews Molecular Cell Biology did not come out of nowhere: it builds on a longer-term research strategy. For some time now, Diósdi’s research has been guided by the same approach – turning the study of artificial tissue-like models into a standardised, reproducible system built around AI-based multimodal analysis. His earlier work has attracted considerable international attention: an article he published in Nature Communications last year has been read by more than 11,000 researchers in less than a year.
The concept’s practical significance is also underscored by a Hungarian utility model and an international patent, which means these developments may represent not only scientific novelty but also innovations with practical applications.
Cover image credit: HYPE Productions · TTM