Spinal Cord Organoid Modeling Service

The spinal cord is the vital communication highway between the brain and the body, controlling movement, processing sensation, and mediating reflexes. Its intricate network of diverse neurons and glial cells, organized along precise developmental axes, makes it incredibly complex. Understanding how this structure forms, functions, and what goes wrong in disease or injury is paramount for developing effective therapies for conditions ranging from devastating motor neuron diseases like ALS and SMA to spinal cord injury (SCI), chronic pain, and developmental defects like spina bifida.

For years, researchers have relied on animal models and 2D cell cultures. While informative, these approaches often fall short. Traditional cell cultures miss their complexity, and animal models don't fully capture human biology. At Creative Biolabs, we bridge this gap by harnessing the power of human spinal cord organoids (SCOs). Grown from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs), including patient-derived iPSCs, these self-organizing 3D models recreate key aspects of human spinal cord development and structure in vitro. They offer an unprecedented, human-relevant platform to explore development, model devastating diseases, and test potential therapeutics with greater accuracy.

Our SCO Platform: Key Features

We generate SCOs that develop remarkable biological characteristics:

• Rich Cellular Environment: SCOs contain diverse cell types native to the spinal cord, including various classes of motor neurons and interneurons, astrocytes, and myelinating oligodendrocytes, developing from appropriate neural progenitor pools.
• Structural Development: These organoids can display complex structural organization, including processes that resemble early neural tube formation and the development of layered arrangements reflecting different spinal cord regions.
• Functional Networks: Neurons within SCOs mature over time, forming synapses, exhibiting spontaneous electrical activity, and establishing functional neural networks that respond to external stimuli.

Our Comprehensive Spinal Cord Organoid Services

We offer a wide range of services built around these advanced models, designed to support your specific research goals from start to finish:

1. Custom SCO Generation:

• Flexible Starting Material: We can generate SCOs from standard human iPSC or ESC lines, your own proprietary lines, or derive new iPSCs directly from patient samples (like fibroblasts or even amniotic fluid cells) for truly personalized models.
• Disease-Specific Models: Let us create SCOs relevant to your research focus. We can work with existing patient-derived lines (e.g., for ALS, SMA) or use precise CRISPR/Cas9 gene editing to introduce specific mutations (like TDP43 variants) or knockdowns (like C9orf72), always generating appropriate isogenic controls for comparison.
• Tailored Development: We apply specific growth factors and morphogens (like RA, FGF, GDF11, BMP4, SHH agonists) at key time points to guide organoid development towards particular regional identities (rostro-caudal level based on HOX codes, or dorsal/ventral character).
• Advanced Culture & Matrix Options: Beyond standard Matrigel, we can culture SCOs in defined, xeno-free hydrogels (like tunable alginate) or utilize specialized functionalized scaffolds to better mimic specific microenvironments or enable unique experimental setups.
• Complex Model Systems: We can generate more intricate models, such as SCOs incorporating vascular cells or microglia, or fused assembloids combining SCOs with other brain regions (e.g., cortex) or sensory ganglia (DRGs).

2. In-Depth Characterization & Validation:

• Confirming Identity: We verify the identity and structure of your SCOs using multi-marker immunofluorescence staining (IHC/IF) for key markers of neural progenitors (e.g., SOX1/2, PAX6), specific neuronal subtypes (e.g., ISL1, CHAT, FOXP1 for motor neurons; PAX2, LHX markers for interneurons), glial cells (GFAP, S100B, OLIG2, MBP), and regional identity (HOX proteins).
• Morphological Assessment: We analyze key structural features, including overall size, consistency, the formation of neural tube-like structures or rosettes, and cellular organization.

3. Comprehensive Functional Assessment:

• Network Activity: Assess neural network function using multi-electrode arrays (MEAs). We measure spontaneous firing rates, bursting patterns, network synchrony, and can test how networks respond to drugs or other stimuli.
• Cellular Activity: Visualize neuronal activity in real-time using calcium imaging to understand signaling dynamics at the single-cell and population level.
• Synaptic Function: Evaluate synapse formation using IHC for key markers (like Synapsin I) and perform electrophysiological assessments of synaptic plasticity.
• Specialized Assays: For pain models, we can test responses to known nociceptive agents (like capsaicin or CGRP).

4. Disease Modeling & Phenotypic Analysis:

• Focus on Your Target: We develop and utilize SCO models tailored to specific diseases like ALS, SMA, spina bifida (MMC), spinal cord injury, or pain pathways.
• Relevant Readouts: We measure disease-specific changes, such as motor neuron survival rates, TDP43 protein mislocalization in ALS models, inflammatory cytokine expression, analysis of neurulation defects in NTD models, or altered network activity in pain models.

5. Drug Discovery & Toxicology Screening:

• Scalable Screening: We adapt SCO models for higher-throughput screening (e.g., 96-well plates) to test compound libraries for neuroprotection, efficacy against disease phenotypes, or potential toxicity.
• Efficacy Validation: Test your lead compounds in relevant SCO disease models, using functional or phenotypic readouts to confirm effects (e.g., rescuing neuron death, reducing inflammation, modulating pain responses).
• Developmental Neurotoxicity: Use SCO morphogenesis assays (tracking neural tube formation) to screen compounds like antiepileptic drugs for potential risks during development.

Our Workflow