Sergiu P. Pasca

Article here: www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1...

Video shows timelapse imaging of infection of spinal with each of the 3 viruses

In this bioRxiv & medRxiv, we show how polio and two other enteroviruses lead to loss of muscle contractions, and how this may relate to the distinct cell tropisms and kinetics of damage for each virus.

These viruses, which include including poliovirus, EV-D68 and EV-A71, are a leading cause of viral meningitis in children and have been linked to a polio-like paralysis, which makes understanding their cellular impact especially important.

This week we introduced an #assembloid-based platform to begin studying how #enteroviruses affect human neuromuscular systems.

This is a collaboration with Jan Carette here at Stanford.

Work led by Christine Peters, Jimena Andersen and Min-Yin Li.

Lab-grown models of human brains are advancing rapidly. Can ethics keep pace? Whether neural organoids feel pain or should be placed in animals are among the questions swirling around biology’s hot new technology

Perspectives in @ScieMagazine after our Asilomar conferences on neural #organoids and #assembloids

www.science.org/content/arti...

As Neural Organoid Research Accelerates, Scientists Discuss Ethics Neuroscience experts convened in Asilomar to talk through guidelines around ethical research on human neural organoids.

Some ideas and discussions from our recent Asilomar meeting on the ethics and societal implications of neural organoid and assembloid research

www.the-scientist.com/as-neural-or...

With @hankgreely.bsky.social & supported by @danafoundation.bsky.social @brainorganogenesis.bsky.social @stanfordbrain.bsky.social

An amazing group of scientists, philosophers, legal scholars, ethicists, policy makers, patient advocates, funders and trainees convened at Asilomar for one of the most stimulating meetings I have had the privilege to organize, focused on the ethics of research with neural #organoids & #assembloids

Confocal light micrograph of a synaptic conjugation between three dimensional (3D) human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived brain organoids grown on an organ-on-chip (OOC) system. An OOC is a multi-channel 3D microfluidic cell culture. Organoids are miniature, simplified versions of organs grown in the laboratory. These organoids are being grown to study neural tube formation and neuronal development. Image credit: Arthur Chien, Science Photo Library.

Scientists and ethicists, including Wu Tsai Neuro affiliates @sergiuppasca.bsky.social and Hank Greely, call for an international process to guide the field of human neural organoids.

Read the full @statnews.com story: www.statnews.com/2025/11/06/n...

Grateful for the support of @danafoundation.bsky.social Foundation and @stanfordbrain.bsky.social in helping us gather this amazing group of scientists, legal scholars, ethicists, journalists and patient advocates among others

Last day of discussions at this thought-provoking conference at Asilomar on the ethics and societal implications of neural organoids and assembloids, which I co-organized with @hankgreely.bsky.social

The need for a global effort to attend to human neural organoid and assembloid research A continuing international process is needed to monitor and advise this rapidly progressing field

Article here: www.science.org/doi/10.1126/...

Grateful to @hankgreely.bsky.social for co-leading this group effort.

Looking forward to continuing these conversations at the upcoming conference at Asilomar next week

This week, we published in @science.org an article outlining the current ethical and societal implications of research involving human neural #organoids and #assembloids, their transplantation, and highlighted potential next steps.

(1/2) Considering a career in neuroscience? In this bonus clip from NeuroSociety Stories, @sergiuppasca.bsky.social, a neuroscientist pioneering technology to recreate human brain tissue and neural circuits in the lab, shares why this is a pivotal moment for neuroscience. #neurosociety #neuroscience

Applications are now open for the Stanford course on neural #assembloids!

Deadline: December 12

Organized by an amazing trio of scientists: @rebeccalevymdphd.bsky.social, Sabina Kanton, and @merveavar.bsky.social.

Supported by @brainorganogenesis.bsky.social NINDS Bio-X Stanford Wu Tsai Neuro

The course remains free (including lodging) and is taught by my lab for a full week.

We look forward to welcoming another cohort of 20 participants from all over the world selected from hundreds of applications each year.

By popular demand — the next edition of our hands-on @Stanford @BrOrganogenesis course is coming in 2026!

This year, the focus turns to neural #assembloids, reflecting the growing movement toward modeling circuit-level and complex cell-cell interactions in brain disease.

🧠 Deadline: mid-December

The 2nd Int'l Personalised Medicine Conference is coming up, including keynote talks from @natrajanlabicr.bsky.social, @goldlabcharite.bsky.social , @sergiuppasca.bsky.social , Naomi Wray, Ewan Pearson and Richard Dobson @kingscollegelondon.bsky.social

✍️ conferences.au.dk/internationa...

We are getting closer to this special event at Asilomar

Assembloids and Complex Cell-Cell Interactions across Tissues and Organs Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meetings & Courses -- a private, non-profit institution with research programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, bioinformatics.

meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...

Less than two weeks left to register for the inaugural conference on Assembloids & Complex Cell-Cell Interactions at @cshlnews.bsky.social

Check out the topics and amazing lineup of speakers!

Wishing her every success as she joins a great cohort of lab alumni setting independent research programs worldwide (5th to start their group
this past cycle).

Photo from our lab celebration of Xiaoyu’s paper coming out last year. 👏

A bittersweet day as another postdoc leaves to start an independent lab at St Jude’s Children Hospital.

Xiaoyu Chen led fearless work on developing a therapeutic approach for Timothy syndrome—now advancing toward clinical trial.

Recent conversation at the @danafoundation.bsky.social about neural assembloids and organoids, their applications and ethical challenges (including more on the upcoming Asilomar conference)

Assembloids and Complex Cell-Cell Interactions across Tissues and Organs Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory Meetings & Courses -- a private, non-profit institution with research programs in cancer, neuroscience, plant biology, genomics, bioinformatics.

More here: meetings.cshl.edu/meetings.asp...

Invited speakers here:

One week left to register for the 1st conference on assembloids at @cshlnews.bsky.social this December. Spectacular list of speakers (see below) tackling cell-cell interactions across tissues and organs

Two amazing keynotes:
Ruslan M. Medzhitov & Joanna Wysocka

#assembloids #organoids