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Deepening our knowledge about human development can inform strategies to not only treat infertility and congenital disorders but also various diseases that occur in adulthood. However, possibilities to study human development in the woman’s uterus are very limited and it is not always possible to extrapolate results from model organisms to human context due to species specific differences. Importantly, recent years have seen an accelerated emergence of various 2D and 3D protocols to model different stages of human development in a dish. As a result, technologies such as human embryo models, organoids and direct differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells have started to complement experimental animals in biomedical research in providing valuable insights into human development. The editors of Nature Communications, Communications Biology and Scientific Reports invite submissions of primary research that showcase the use of in vitro models to widen our understanding about formation of the human body.
Mutations in the Hedgehog signaling have not been previously associated to diabetes. Here, authors identify a missense variant of GLI2 in a family with early-onset diabetes and report an essential role of this gene during human iPSC-based pancreatic differentiation.
The placenta is a transient organ that regulates the fetal environment, but our understanding of placental barrier function has been hampered by the lack of in vitro models. Here they develop human placental organoids that resemble the placental villus and form an intact syncytiotrophoblast barrier when cultured in a column model.
Derivation of human primordial germ cell-like cells (hPGCLCs) is critical for reproductive medicine. Here, authors report the induction of hPGCLCs in a bioengineered human pluripotent stem cell culture that mimics peri-implantation human development.
Blastoids are emerging models for early embryo development exploration in vitro. Here, authors found self-renewing human naïve PSCs spontaneously and efficiently give rise to blastoids upon three-dimensional suspension culture.
Authors report that VGLL1 regulates cell fate determination and self-renewal of human pluripotent stem cell-derived trophectoderm-like cells and trophoblast stem cells via modulation of chromatin accessibility in cooperation with TEAD4.
Early patterning of neural crest cells in the craniofacial primordium is important for its subsequent development. Here, authors establish in vitro model of branchial arch from human pluripotent stem cells for determining underlying mechanisms.