SUNY Poly Associate Professor of Nanobioscience Dr. Janet L. Paluh, with recent SUNY Poly Ph.D. graduate and M.D. candidate Zachary Olmsted, published, “Co-development of central and peripheral neurons with trunk mesendoderm in human elongating multi-lineage organized gastruloids” in Nature Communications.

Integration of central and peripheral nervous system (CNS-PNS) functions are needed to repair spinal cord injuries, but few developmental models are available to study these nervous system interactions to benefit therapeutic outcomes. Research by Drs. Paluh and Olmsted describes a CNS-PNS human neurodevelopmental model based on neuromuscular progenitors and emerging gastruloid technology that achieves needed increased morphogenic complexity. The elongating multi-lineage organized (EMLO) gastruloids provide a platform to investigate innervation mechanisms for human CNS neurons with respect to peripheral neurons. This has direct relevance for elucidating innate circuitry mechanisms that will benefit spinal cord injury repair efforts.

This population-diverse research is supported by NYSCIRB and RF Seed funds and used human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) lines as reprogrammed from African American, Hispanic-Latino, and Asian self-identifying donors.

To learn more, visit the Nature Communications Publication here.