Fig. 1

Illustative example of how cerebral organoids are generated and their use for modeling GBM infiltration. a Typical developmental outline of cerebral organoid formation across time (i–iv) and validation with neuronal markers using histology (v) and immunofluorescence (vi) at 6 weeks to highlight formation of spatially organized brain-like tissue. Markers shown in immunofluorescence include SOX2 (primitive neuroepithelial progenitor cells), DCX (early neurons) and DAPI as a nuclear stain. b Characteristic epifluorescence image (i) of a fused GBM-organoid culture system through co-culturing of cerebral organoids with GFP-tagged GSCs. In (ii) immunofluorescence indicates the level of infiltration of GBM into neuronal tissue. In (ii), GFAP is used as a surrogate marker of the infiltrating GBM cells as it is not typically expressed in high levels in cerebral organoids at this timepoint (non-fused organoid in indent)