Collaborative preprint: Synthetic lumen rounding directs neural progenitor division

We are delighted to highlight this new collaborative preprint from Miki Ebisuya’s group at EMBL Barcelona and TU Dresden, featuring our lab:

Synthetic lumen rounding directs neural progenitor division mode

Marchenko M, Martinez Ara G, Pulikkal J, Ishihara K, Ebisuya M

bioRxiv, 2026. DOI: 10.64898/2026.03.30.715222

The Work

By developing a powerful chemical biology tool, the team manipulated tissue geometry in brain organoids with unprecedented precision. By experimentally controlling the rounding of fluid-filled lumens within these organoids, they demonstrated that this simple geometric change directly dictates how neural progenitor cells divide and controls the emergence of a new progenitor population in the developing tissue.

Our lab contributed to this work by quantitatively interpreting the geometric changes observed in these experiments. This collaborative effort reveals how tissue geometry directly instructs cell fate decisions, a fundamental principle for understanding developmental patterning and designing improved neural organoids.