Introduction

Established organoid genration workflow

We are now in the modern era of 3D human tissue models known as organoids. Since 2012, significant progress has been made in tissue engineering, particularly in culturing human stem cells into complex, three-dimensional structures that mimic miniature organs. These technologies hold enormous potential for understanding human biology and modeling diseases in a more physiologically relevant way. A groundbreaking discovery came from the laboratory of Yoshiki Sasai, demonstrating that pluripotent stem cells have the intrinsic ability to self-organize into complex neural tissues. This was followed by a major breakthrough by Madeline Lancaster, who generated these structures as "cerebral organoids". These advances have revolutionized research on the human brain.

Our organoid technology continues to evolve rapidly, providing dynamic visual insights into human brain development. These animated models help us better understand cellular organization and behavior in real time.

Brain organoid imaged by lightsheet microscopy: VZ and cortical plate

3D reconstruction of human brain organoid

• Gabriel, E., Albanna, W., Pasquini, G., Ramani, A., Josipovic, N., Mariappan, A., Schinzel, F., Karch, C.M., Bao, G., Gottardo, M., et al. Gopalakrishnan J* (2021). Human brain organoids assemble functionally integrated bilateral optic vesicles. Cell Stem Cell (in press). Published: August 17, 2021. DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.stem.2021.07.01.

  • Received international attention in more than 200 news outlets. Use the search term “Mini brains with eye-like structures”.

  • Few examples:

    • IndiaTimes
    • New Scientist
    • LiveScience
    • ScienceAlert
    • News18

• Ramani et al. The EMBO Journal 2020. SARS-CoV-2 targets neurons in human bran organoids.

See the press release: https://www.embo.org/news/press-releases/2020/mini-brain-organoids-show-potential-for-sars-cov2-to-cause-neurodegenerative-disease-like-effects.html

• Goranci et al. Cell Reports 2020. Glioma invasion in the human brain organoids.

• Gabriel et al. The EMBO Journal 2016. Cilium scales brain size in microcephaly.