Spatial engineering of posterior signaling centers in cerebral organoids via controlled morphogen exposure within hydrogels

A stiffness-controlled hydrogel platform enables localized morphogen exposure that selectively induces posterior marker expression on the exposed face of cerebral cortex organoids.

• Why it matters: Conventional organoid methods yield spontaneous, spatially disorganized cortical regions because morphogen distribution within local environments is poorly controlled.
• What they did: The authors fabricated hydrogels using bulk photopolymerization, thermal crosslinking, and digital light processing (DLP) to deliver morphogens preferentially to one side, then visualized delivery with fluorescently tagged dextran and printed dual morphogen hubs.
• The result: The platform supports systematic spatial patterning of cell populations and enables higher-fidelity organoid models by establishing localized and opposing morphogen gradients within single organoids.