Advances in engineered models of peri-gastrulation

Diandian Cheng; Christopher T Clark; Quinton Smith

doi:10.1016/j.isci.2025.112659

Advances in engineered models of peri-gastrulation

iScience. 2025 May 14;28(6):112659. doi: 10.1016/j.isci.2025.112659. eCollection 2025 Jun 20.

Authors

Diandian Cheng^{1

2}, Christopher T Clark^{1

2}, Quinton Smith^{1

2

3

4}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
² Sue and Bill Gross Stem Cell Research Center, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
³ Department of Biomedical Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
⁴ Department of Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Irvine, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.

Abstract

Studying human development presents significant ethical and technical challenges. Yet, the integration of stem cell technology and engineering tools has provided unprecedented insights into early lineage specification and the morphogenetic events that shape human development. Pre-gastrulation models, such as blastoids, replicate aspects of blastocyst formation and implantation, enabling research on early lineage specification and embryo-maternal interactions. Gastrulation models, including 2D micropatterned systems and 3D gastruloid constructs, provide valuable insights into cell differentiation, signaling pathways, and tissue organization during germ layer formation. Beyond gastrulation, post-gastrulation models, including somitoids, mimicking early somitogenesis and axial elongation, offer opportunities for studying segmentation and neural tube formation. Together, these systems enable investigation into the peri-gastrulation stage of mammalian development. Here, we discuss the integration of engineering technologies, including micropatterned substrates, microfluidic systems, and synthetic biology tools, in enhancing the precision of these models, allowing for a greater understanding of the early stages of human development.

Keywords: Bioengineering; Biology of human development; Developmental biology; Embryology.

Publication types

Review

Grants and funding

R35 GM151099/GM/NIGMS NIH HHS/United States