MIOR: a next-generation blueprint to make organoid data reliable, interoperable, and FAIR

Organoids, as three-dimensional, self-organizing tissue models, have become indispensable tools in fields such as oncology, infectious disease, developmental biology, and regenerative medicine. However, reporting across studies remains highly fragmented: donor variability, dissociation strategies, growth factor compositions, scaffold selection, and assay design often differ widely between laboratories. These inconsistencies undermine reproducibility, obstruct cross-study comparisons, and limit the integration of organoid datasets across repositories. Historical precedents—such as Minimum Information About a Microarray Experiment (MIAME) for microarray experiments and Minimum Information About a Cellular Assay for Regenerative Medicine (MIACARM) for stem cell assays—demonstrate that standardized reporting can reshape an entire research field. Due to these issues, deeper and more systematic efforts are needed to develop a unified minimum-information framework for organoid research.

Researchers from Cell Organoid, Peking University, and Shanghai Lisheng Biotech have published (DOI: 10.26599/CO.2025.9410020) the Minimum Information about Organoid Research (MIOR) framework in Cell Organoid in 2025. The article introduces the first structured reporting standard tailored to the complexity of organoid systems. Organized into six modules, MIOR outlines essential descriptors needed to ensure reproducibility, enhance interoperability, and support the translational use of organoid models. The publication marks a major step toward establishing organoid research standards for journal submission, database deposition, and regulatory evaluation.

MIOR is structured into six core modules that cover the full pipeline of organoid research. The Project/Dataset module records identifiers, ethics approvals, and study context. The Source module documents species, donor characteristics, derivation routes, anatomical origin, dissociation protocols, and sampling context for tumor-derived organoids. The Organoid Characterization & Quality Control module captures identity, morphology, lineage markers, passage number, viability, contamination testing, differentiation pathways, and genetic stability.

The Culture & Manipulation module reports media composition, growth factors, extracellular matrices, passaging strategies, and physical culture cues such as perfusion, hypoxia, or microfluidics. Engineering-related processes—such as organ-on-chip platforms, bioreactors, or 3D bioprinting—are described in the Integrated Engineering Strategies module. Finally, the Experimental Assay & Data module standardizes assay types, instrumentation parameters, data formats, access levels, ontology use, and file manifests.

A significant contribution of MIOR is its two-tier reporting system. Required fields guarantee reproducibility and comparability, while recommended fields provide context without imposing unrealistic burdens on laboratories. MIOR incorporates controlled vocabularies such as UBERON, Cell Ontology, ChEBI, and Disease Ontology to ensure semantic clarity and computational interoperability. Beginning in 2026, Cell Organoid will require authors to submit MIOR checklists, positioning the framework as a new community standard.

According to the authors, MIOR is designed as a practical, enforceable standard that elevates scientific rigor while remaining achievable for laboratories of varying capacity. They emphasize that reproducible organoid science requires transparent documentation of sample origin, culture conditions, and assay parameters, particularly as organoids enter clinical and regulatory contexts. MIOR also aligns with FAIR principles—ensuring that datasets become findable, accessible, interoperable, and reusable. The authors note that the framework will need continuous community-driven updates to adapt to evolving technologies such as spatial multi-omics and synthetic matrices.

The MIOR framework is expected to reshape organoid research by enabling large-scale data integration, improving biobank transparency, and enhancing the utility of organoids in drug screening and precision medicine. Standardized metadata will strengthen the predictive value of patient-derived tumor organoids, support regulatory review of regenerative therapies, and validate infectious disease models. MIOR’s modular and adaptable structure also provides a blueprint for extending similar standards to assembloids, organ-on-chip systems, and 3D-printed tissues. By converting organoid datasets into interoperable scientific assets, MIOR lays the foundation for a future in which organoid-based technologies can advance reliably toward clinical translation.

About Cell Organoid

Cell Organoid aims to provide a worldwide platform for research into all aspects of organoids and their applications in medicine. It is an open access, peer-reviewed journal that publishes high-quality articles dealing with a wide range of basic research, clinical and translational medicine study topics in the field. This journal is published by Tsinghua University Press.

10.26599/CO.2025.9410020