04/2022 - Benchmarking brain organoid recapitulation of fetal corticogenesis
Brain organoids are becoming increasingly relevant to dissect the molecular mechanisms underlying psychiatric and neurological conditions. The in vitro recapitulation of key features of human brain development affords the unique opportunity of investigating the developmental antecedents of neuropsychiatric conditions in the context of the actual patients’ genetic backgrounds. Specifically, multiple strategies of brain organoid (BO) differentiation have […]
04/2022 - Fabrication of High Aspect Ratio Gold Nanowires within the Microtubule Lumen
Gold nanowires have great potential use as interconnects in electronic, photonic, and optoelectronic devices. To date, there are various fabrication strategies for gold nanowires, each one associated with particular drawbacks as they utilize high temperatures, toxic chemicals, or expensive compounds to produce nanowires of suboptimal quality. Inspired by nanowire fabrication strategies that used higher-order biopolymer […]
04/2022 - CHD8 haploinsufficiency links autism to transient alterations in excitatory and inhibitory trajectories
Mutations in the chromodomain helicase DNA-binding 8 (CHD8) gene are a frequent cause of autism spectrum disorder (ASD). While its phenotypic spectrum often encompasses macrocephaly, implicating cortical abnormalities, how CHD8 haploinsufficiency affects neurodevelopmental is unclear. Here, employing human cerebral organoids, we find that CHD8 haploinsufficiency disrupted neurodevelopmental trajectories with an accelerated and delayed generation of, respectively, inhibitory and excitatory neurons that yields, at days 60 […]
03/2022 - The ENDpoiNTs Project: Novel Testing Strategies for Endocrine Disruptors Linked to Developmental Neurotoxicity
Ubiquitous exposure to endocrine-disrupting chemicals (EDCs) has caused serious concerns about the ability of these chemicals to affect neurodevelopment, among others. Since endocrine disruption (ED)-induced developmental neurotoxicity (DNT) is hardly covered by the chemical testing tools that are currently in regulatory use, the Horizon 2020 research and innovation action ENDpoiNTs has been launched to fill […]
03/2022 - High-dimensional functional phenotyping of preclinical human CAR T cells using mass cytometry
Here, we present a comprehensive protocol for the generation and functional characterization of chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cells and their products by mass cytometry in a reproducible and scalable manner. We describe the production of CAR T cells from human peripheral blood mononuclear cells. We then detail a three-step staining protocol with metal-labeled antibodies and the […]