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Embryo-like models shed fresh light on early human development

A wave of stem-cell systems are enabling researchers to unpick what happens after an embryo implants in the uterus.
  1. Sandeep Ravindran

    1. Sandeep Ravindran is a freelance writer in Washington DC.

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Composite image of iBlastoids with different cellular staining

Embryo models of the blastocyst stage of early development, reprogrammed from skin cells. Credit: Monash University

Cells in culture typically form continuous sheets, like skin. But in 2017, bioengineer Jianping Fu realized that if he cultured human stem cells in a 3D scaffold, they would spontaneously organize into structures that looked, under a microscope, a bit like an embryo1. Gene-expression analyses suggested the cells were similar to those in an embryo immediately after it implants in the uterus, meaning they could serve as experimental models for a previously opaque point in early development.

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Nature 600, 767-769 (2021)

doi: https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-021-03711-z

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