The Fall 2025 Biology Seminar Series continues with a talk from Ian Jan, "Mosaic Journeys: Resilience in Early Human Embryogenesis & PhD Path."
Human 2D gastruloids model the spatial patterning that occurs during gastrulation, which is otherwise inaccessible because of ethical and technical limitations. Specifically, this highly reproducible system enables quantitative analysis of cell signaling and fate decisions during embryogenesis. Although gastruloids can provide insights into the molecular mechanisms underlying early embryonic development, their potential for large-scale screens is limited by low-throughput analytical approaches. Furthermore, no current technology can sort single adherent cell colonies efficiently for downstream analysis. Through a multidisciplinary collaboration spanning from engineering to systems biology, we developed an innovative platform that can screen and sort gastruloids via high-throughput and -content imaging. Because aneuploidy (chromosomal abnormalities) can complicate pregnancy outcomes, we can use this platform to better understand the process of aneuploidy depletion for the recovery of healthy development. Moreover, large scale screens of gastruloids can provide insights into pregnancy losses, congenital birth defects, and tissue regeneration.
