HCMI Delivers ~700 New Cancer Organoids for Drug Discovery

The Human Cancer Models Initiative (HCMI), an international consortium led by MIT’s Koch Institute, the Broad Institute, Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and the National Cancer Institute (NCI), has released nearly 700 new patient-derived cancer models across 25 cancer types to accelerate oncology drug discovery. Published in Nature on 5 August 2026, the compendium marks the culmination of a 10-year international effort to expand the preclinical model infrastructure available to cancer researchers globally.

The HCMI was launched in 2016 following the Cancer Genome Atlas, which revealed that the diversity of tumour genetic profiles far exceeded the roughly 1,000 patient-derived cancer cell lines then available. Funded primarily by the NCI and the UK’s Wellcome Trust, the initiative gathered more than 2,700 tumour samples from hospitals in the US, UK and Netherlands. Researchers converted about one-third of the samples into stable models, most as organoids, three-dimensional cell cultures embedded in a gelatin-like scaffold that more closely reproduce tumour tissue structure than traditional 2D cell lines. Sample coverage includes common cancers plus roughly 150 rare cancer types, addressing longstanding gaps in preclinical model diversity.

All models were deposited at the American Type Culture Collection (ATCC), alongside extensive patient data including germline mutations and prior treatment history. In companion Nature papers, Broad Institute researchers profiled more than 300 models using high-throughput genome and RNA sequencing plus CRISPR loss-of-function screens, adding the findings to the Cancer Dependency Map (DepMap). Sanger Institute researchers characterised an additional 256 organoids. Senior author Jesse Boehm framed the release as a beginning rather than an end, with further work planned in paediatric and rare cancers.

The commercial signal is a substantial expansion of preclinical infrastructure available to oncology drug discovery. Larger, more diverse and better characterised organoid libraries lower a major barrier for target validation and screening. Expect Corning, Thermo Fisher, Merck KGaA (Sigma-Aldrich), STEMCELL Technologies, Emulate and Mimetas to sharpen their positioning across the growing organoid and 3D cell culture market through 2026 and 2027.

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