ReviewNature protocols2022
Engineering brain assembloids to interrogate human neural circuits.
Review in Nature protocols, 2022. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 110 papers.
What it found
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Who cites it
110 citing papers in PubMed, 173 citations in OpenAlex.
- Tissue engineering for traumatic spinal cord injury: Research advances and clinical translation.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- Epilepsy-associated SCN2A-L1342P mutation drives network hyperexcitability and widespread transcriptomic changes in human cortical organoids.Epilepsia · 2026Article
- Autism-associated SCN2A deficiency disrupts cortico-striatal circuitry in human brain assembloids.Neuron · 2026Article
- Using Brain Organoids to Explore Human Neurobiology.Cellular and molecular neurobiology · 2026Review
- Functional development of midbrain and pons during human gestation and electrophysiological markers for DS intervention.Journal of advanced research · 2026Article
- Illuminating cancer therapy: The translational path of optogenetics.Bioactive materials · 2026Review
- Human iPSC-Derived Brain Organoids: A Disease-Oriented Evaluation of Modeling Fidelity.The European journal of neuroscience · 2026Review
- Advances and applications of brain organoids in central nervous system disorders: Bridging the gap from laboratory to clinic.Neural regeneration research · 2026Article
- Engineering brain organoids: from neurodevelopmental modeling to translational barriers.Journal of artificial organs : the official journal of the Japanese Society for Artificial Organs · 2026Review
- Abnormal neuronal and synaptic morphology in Down syndrome brains reproduces in human isogenic cellular models.Cell death & disease · 2026Article
- Human stem cell-based embryo models: innovation, ethics, and policy.Human reproduction (Oxford, England) · 2026Article
- Organoids: generation strategies, applications, and future challenges.Stem cell research & therapy · 2026Review
- Modelling brain tumours with organoids: towards precision medicine in neuro-oncology.Nature reviews. Neurology · 2026Review
- Generation of spatially patterned human neural tube-like structures using microfluidic gradient devices.Nature protocols · 2026Review
- Radiation-induced neurotoxicity: investigating human neuronal damage in MEA-integrated microfluidic platforms.RSC advances · 2026Article
- Human neuromodulatory assembloids to study serotonin signaling and disease.bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology · 2026Article
- Human microglia in brain assembloids display region-specific diversity and respond to hyperexcitable neurons carryingScience advances · 2026Article
- Single-cell transcriptomics revealed molecular vulnerability in a human midbrain-like organoid model of Parkinson's disease.iScience · 2026Article
- Parabiosis, Assembloids, Organoids (PAO).Advanced science (Weinheim, Baden-Wurttemberg, Germany) · 2026Review
- Generating and characterizing human telencephalic brain organoids from stem cell-derived single neural rosettes.Nature protocols · 2026Review
50 more citing papers are in PubMed but not listed here.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
6 authors at 2 institutions in 1 country.
Funding
Abstract
The development of neural circuits involves wiring of neurons locally following their generation and migration, as well as establishing long-distance connections between brain regions. Studying these developmental processes in the human nervous system remains difficult because of limited access to tissue that can be maintained as functional over time in vitro. We have previously developed a method to convert human pluripotent stem cells into brain region-specific organoids that can be fused and integrated to form assembloids and study neuronal migration. In contrast to approaches that mix cell lineages in 2D cultures or engineer microchips, assembloids leverage self-organization to enable complex cell-cell interactions, circuit formation and maturation in long-term cultures. In this protocol, we describe approaches to model long-range neuronal connectivity in human brain assembloids. We present how to generate 3D spheroids resembling specific domains of the nervous system and then how to integrate them physically to allow axonal projections and synaptic assembly. In addition, we describe a series of assays including viral labeling and retrograde tracing, 3D live imaging of axon projection and optogenetics combined with calcium imaging and electrophysiological recordings to probe and manipulate the circuits in assembloids. The assays take 3-4 months to complete and require expertise in stem cell culture, imaging and electrophysiology. We anticipate that these approaches will be useful in deciphering human-specific aspects of neural circuit assembly and in modeling neurodevelopmental disorders with patient-derived cells.
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Registered trials
Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.