Researchers in the lab of HMS geneticist Olivier Pourquié have created 3D cell culture models — or organoids — that mimic early spine development in humans.
To the team’s delight, the organoids include a ticking “segmentation clock” like those the researchers previously identified in the embryos of several species and replicated in human stem cells. Each tick of the clock triggers the formation of a regularly spaced vertebra precursor, or somite.
