Stanford Brain Organogenesis Center
@brainorganogenesis.bsky.social
Creating, applying and broadly sharing human stem cell models of brain development and disease Website: http://www.brainorganogenesis.org/
New paper from the Pasca lab
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · 8mo agoIn our most recent publication in Nature Protocols, we outline detailed methods for performing CRISPR screens in neural #organoids and #assembloids. The integration of these approaches is becoming increasingly powerful for uncovering human biology and gaining mechanistic insights into disease.
A remarkable group!
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · 9mo agoAn amazing group of scientists, philosophers, legal scholars, ethicists, policy makers, patient advocates, funders and trainees convened at Asilomar for one of the most stimulating meetings I have had the privilege to organize, focused on the ethics of research with neural #organoids & #assembloids
Exciting event coming up! Please share broadly
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · 10mo agoBy popular demand — the next edition of our hands-on @Stanford @BrOrganogenesis course is coming in 2026! This year, the focus turns to neural #assembloids, reflecting the growing movement toward modeling circuit-level and complex cell-cell interactions in brain disease. 🧠 Deadline: mid-December
Warmest congratulations from all of us here at Stanford and best wishes!
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · 10mo agoA bittersweet day as another postdoc leaves to start an independent lab at St Jude’s Children Hospital. Xiaoyu Chen led fearless work on developing a therapeutic approach for Timothy syndrome—now advancing toward clinical trial.
One week left to register for the 1st conference on assembloids at @cshlnews.bsky.social this December. Spectacular list of speakers (see below) tackling cell-cell interactions across tissues and organs Two amazing keynotes: Ruslan M. Medzhitov & Joanna Wysocka #assembloids #organoids
Great news about our upcoming meeting at Asilomar on the Ethics of Neural #Organoids and #Assembloids Research! We secured additional support to waive the registration fee for at least 30 participants, which is especially beneficial for trainees If interested, complete the form at the link below
Stem cell-derived neural organoids and assembloids are opening new frontiers in neuroscience, but what are the ethical and societal challenges? Join the discussion at a meeting supported by @danafoundation.bsky.social and @brainorganogenesis.bsky.social. 🎟️ sto.stanfordtickets.org/ethical-and-...
Check out the latest work on assembloids out in Science today 👇
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.Our latest work is out today in @science.org: a self-organizing system that models organizer-driven patterning and commissural axon guidance in human neural development. Work led by Massimo Onesto with Neal Amin in the lab
Newest work in our Center 👇
@stanfordbrain.bsky.social · last yr.Brain organoids are reshaping neuroscience. To scale up their work, Wu Tsai Neuro affiliates @sergiuppasca.bsky.social, Sarah Heilshorn & team found a solution: xanthan gum. This simple solution could accelerate the discovery of brain development & disease. neuroscience.stanford.edu/news/common-...
Sharing today the latest from our lab, just published in Nature Biomedical Engineering. As stem cell models gain traction for disease modeling and drug testing, one of the bottlenecks has been scaling up production. In work led by Yuki and Genta, we present a simple and cost-effective solution.
Check out this exciting new meeting at Asilomar !
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.Excited to announce that applications are open for the Asilomar meeting on The Ethical and Societal Implications of Neural Organoids, Assembloids, and Their Transplantation! As the technologies & applications of 3D neural models evolve, a number of ethical and societal issues are emerging.
Congratulations Massimo!
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.Thrilled to introduce the newest PhD from the lab—Dr. Massimo Onesto—who successfully defended his thesis @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social. An exciting day for an exceptional scientist! Behind is the now-traditional “assembloids cake” we put together for the occasion. Congratulations, Massimo!
A few weeks ago, I talked to @neildegrassetyson.com on his StarTalk Radio about our efforts to understand human brain disorders with stem cell models including #assembloids. We touched on the promise of these technologies, the challenges & the mission behind the work www.youtube.com/watch?v=HEBj...
Groundbreaking Studies Recreate Human Brain Circuits in a Dish
YouTube video by StarTalk
youtube.com
Congratulations, XiangLing! And thank you for all your contributions to our Center and the international courses 🙏
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.This is a bittersweet week as we say goodbye to a phenomenal postdoc in the lab— Xiangling Meng—who is leaving to start her own independent lab at Baylor College of Medicine.
Exciting week for us here in the Center hosting students from all over the world!
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.This week we welcome on campus 2025 class of students for our hands-on Stanford Brain Organogenesis course. With students joining from across the globe, this is our most international class yet—diving into cutting-edge neural #organoid and #assembloid methods, ready to bring them back to their labs.
Check out this overview of human stem cell models of brain development and disease
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.What human experimental models do we currently have to study brain disorders—and where do they fall short? In our recent @annualreviews.bsky.social, @rebeccalevymdphd.bsky.social and I examine the landscape of human stem cell models—2D systems, 3D #organoids, #assembloids, and transplantation.
Second day of 2025 Stanford Brain Organogenesis is on full steam! 🚂 @rebeccalevymdphd.bsky.social @sergiuppasca.bsky.social @brainorganogenesis.bsky.social
Great summary on @npr.org by Jon Hamilton discussing the recent reconstruction of the sensory neural pathway in #assembloids reported this week by our Director @sergiuppasca.bsky.social lab at @stanfordmedicine.bsky.social www.npr.org/sections/sho...
Pain pathway in a dish could aid search for new analgesic drugs
Scientists have recreated a pathway that senses pain, using clusters of human nerve cells grown in a dish.
npr.org
The @sergiuppasca.bsky.social group functionally assembled the essential components of the human sensory pathway in a compound organoid "assembloid." The model could accelerate our understanding of sensory circuits and facilitate therapeutic development. ow.ly/BZ4R50VxSfy 🧪 @gregscherrer.bsky.social
Exciting new research today in @nature.com from @sergiuppasca.bsky.social’s lab
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.In @nature.com today we report sensory #assembloids comprising four parts to recapitulate aspects of the pathway that processes pain stimuli and we use it to study genetic syndromes. Work pioneered by the brilliant Ji-il Kim & Kent Imaizumi in close collab with @gregscherrer.bsky.social ! Link 👇
Check out this brief summary
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · last yr.As stem cell-based modeling of the human nervous system and disease advances, we recently shared a group-effort framework in @nature.com on designing experiments with #organoids, #assembloids, and transplantation Here a few key takeaways in 6 slides👇
Congratulations to our Director @sergiuppasca.bsky.social for his induction into the American Institute for Medical and Biological Engineering @aimbe-official.bsky.social this week in Washington DC!
Following an initial effort to reach consensus on the nomenclature, we gathered a group of researchers and, for over a year, we worked to outline a framework that can apply to neural #organoids and #assembloids and their xeno-transplantation. A summary of our recommendation can be seen here:
Exciting times for human neurobiology!
Sergiu P. Pasca@sergiuppasca.bsky.social · 2y agoHard to believe that exactly 12 years ago, when I was in Ricardo Dolmetsch's lab, we reported in @natureneuro.bsky.social an activity-dependent dendrite phenotype in Timothy syndrome neurons derived in 3D cortical cultures generated from stem cells, which were referred to as ‘neurospheres’
