Xuyu Qian

TL;DR: A miniaturized spinning bioreactor (SpinΩ) is developed to generate forebrain-specific organoids from human iPSCs that recapitulate key features of human cortical development, including progenitor zone organization, neurogenesis, gene expression, and, notably, a distinct human-specific outer radial glia cell layer.

TL;DR: It is shown that a strain of the ZIKV, MR766, serially passaged in monkey and mosquito cells efficiently infects human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) derived from induced pluripotent stem cells, identified as a direct ZikV target, and reveals transcriptional dysregulation, notably of cell-cycle-related pathways.

TL;DR: A pan-caspase inhibitor, emricasan, inhibited ZIKV-induced increases in caspase-3 activity and protected human cortical neural progenitors in both monolayer and three-dimensional organoid cultures, and combination treatments using one compound from each category (neuroprotective and antiviral) further increased protection of human neural progensitors and astrocytes from ZIKv-induced cell death.

TL;DR: Methods for generating and biobanking patient-derived glioblastoma organoids (GBOs) that recapitulate the histological features, cellular diversity, gene expression, and mutational profiles of their corresponding parental tumors are reported.

TL;DR: Recent advances in the development of brain organoid methodologies are summarized and their potential applications as model systems for understanding disease states as well as normal brain development across species are highlighted.