Bringing together the organoid field: from early beginnings to the road ahead

From October 12-15th, 2016, EMBO∣EMBL held a symposium to bring together those in the scientific community with a shared interest in using three-dimensional (3D) culture methods to study biology, model disease and personalize treatments. The symposium, entitled 'Organoids: modelling organ development and disease in 3D culture', which was organized by Juergen Knoblich, Mina Bissell and Esther Schnapp, was particularly timely as there were otherwise few opportunities for those interested in using 3D culture platforms to interact outside of their organ-specific scientific community. The meeting was a fantastic success, creating a lot of discussion and cross-fertilization of ideas from developmental biologists to bioengineers and biophysicists. This Meeting Review provides a summary of the talks presented and the major themes that emerged from the symposium.