ArticlebioRxiv : the preprint server for biology2026
Optogenetic BMP4 models symmetry breaking and primitive streak formation in hPSCs.
Article in bioRxiv : the preprint server for biology, 2026. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Not yet cited in PubMed.
What it found
Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.
The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.
The trial behind it
Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.
Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.
Who cites it
0 citing papers in PubMed.
No citing paper in PubMed yet.
Corrections and comments
PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.
Authors and funding
3 authors.
Funding
Abstract
Gastrulation begins when the epiblast epithelium breaks symmetry to form the primitive streak, but current in vitro models neither fully capture this process nor separate its mechanical and chemical inputs. Here, we introduce LightBMP, an optogenetic platform that enables spatiotemporally programmable BMP4 expression in human pluripotent stem cells. Dose and duration control reveal a sustained low-BMP regime, inaccessible to re-combinant ligand, that specifies mesoderm. Spatially programmed BMP4 sources in uniform cultures mimic the radial organization of 2D gastruloids, showing that mechanical context and edge sensing are not required for patterning. In micropatterned colonies, light-defined sources break symmetry to generate a stripe-shaped, primitive-streak-like domain where cells acquire multiple mesodermal fates and undergo directed migration. Together, these results show that spatial control of a single morphogen source is sufficient to drive symmetry breaking and primitive-streak-like patterning, independent of edge constraints.
Identifiers
What OpenQuestion holds
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.