Mapping the Emergent Spatial Organization of Mammalian Cells using Micropatterns and Quantitative Imaging.

A fundamental goal in biology is to understand how patterns emerge during development. Several groups have shown that patterning can be achieved in vitro when stem cells are spatially confined onto micropatterns, thus setting up experimental models which offer unique opportunities to identify, in vitro, the fundamental principles of biological organisation. Here we describe our own implementation of the methodology.

Geometrical confinement controls the asymmetric patterning of brachyury in cultures of pluripotent cells.

Diffusible signals are known to orchestrate patterning during embryogenesis, yet diffusion is sensitive to noise. The fact that embryogenesis is remarkably robust suggests that additional layers of regulation reinforce patterning. Here, we demonstrate that geometrical confinement orchestrates the spatial organisation of initially randomly positioned subpopulations of spontaneously differentiating mouse embryonic stem cells.