Microfluidic approaches for engineering vasculature

•Microfluidic biomaterials enable immediate perfusion of an engineered tissue.•Mechanical stresses govern the long-term vascular stability in these materials.•Computational models yield optimized designs for transport and vascular stability.

Recent studies have validated a vascularization strategy that relies on microfluidic networks within biomaterials as templates to guide the formation of perfused vessels. This review discusses methods to form and vascularize microfluidic materials, physical principles that underlie stable vascularization, and computational models that seek to optimize the microfluidic design.