Spatiotemporal imaging and analysis of mouse and human liver bud morphogenesis.

Background: The process of liver organogenesis has served as a paradigm for organ formation. However, there remains a lack of understanding regarding early mouse and human liver bud morphogenesis and early liver volumetric growth. Elucidating dynamic changes in liver volumes is critical for understanding organ development, implementing toxicological studies, and for modeling hPSC-derived liver organoid growth.

Modeling Liver Organogenesis by Recreating Three-Dimensional Collective Cell Migration: A Role for TGFβ Pathway.

Three-dimensional (3D) collective cell migration (CCM) is critical for improving liver cell therapies, eliciting mechanisms of liver disease, and modeling human liver development and organogenesis. Mechanisms of CCM differ in 2D vs. 3D systems, and existing models are limited to 2D or transwell-based systems, suggesting there is a need for improved 3D models of CCM.