BioScopes - Predictive Biology: Organoids, AI, and the Next Era of Research

In this BioScope episode, host Carli Reyes takes you inside four groundbreaking stories that show how discovery science is evolving from proof-of-concept experiments to predictive, life-like models of human biology. From organoids that grow at the pace of a developing fetus to AI systems that simulate entire cells, this episode reveals how scientists are pushing past traditional limits and creating tools that make biology more realistic, scalable, and powerful.

What You’ll Hear:

• Kidney organoids on a human timeline — the first fetal kidney models that grow step by step over nine months, opening new windows into birth defects, prenatal gene programs, and drug safety during pregnancy.
• “Minibrains” with a twist — immune cells called microglia aren’t just cleaning up, but actively building neural circuits, reshaping how we think about brain development and disorders.
• CellForge AI — a multi-agent AI that builds predictive “virtual cells” you can experiment on in silico, accelerating discovery while reducing reliance on costly lab experiments.
• Vascularized organoids — mini-hearts and mini-livers sprouting branching blood vessels, finally overcoming a major barrier in organoid research and bringing drug testing and personalized medicine closer to reality.

Together, these stories highlight the convergence of stem cell science, high-content imaging, and AI — a new era where we don’t just observe biology, but predict and design it.

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References:

Kidney Organoids

• Namestnikov, M., Cohen-Zontag, O., Omer, D., Gnatek, Y., Goldberg, S., Vincent, T., Singh, S., Shiber, Y., Yehudai, T. R., Volkov, H., Genet, D. F., Urbach, A., Polak-Charcon, S., Grinberg, I., Pode-Shakked, N., Weisz, B., Vaknin, Z., Freedman, B. S., & Dekel, B. (2025). Human fetal kidney organoids model early human nephrogenesis and Notch-driven cell fate. The EMBO Journal, 44(14), e00504. https://doi.org/10.1038/s44318-025-00504-2
• Reuters. (2025, August 20). Health Rounds: Human fetal kidney development mimicked in test tubes. Reuters. Retrieved from https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/health-rounds-human‑fetal‑kidney‑development‑mimicked‑test‑tubes‑2025‑08‑20/

Minibrains & Microglia

• Yu, D., Jain, S., Wangzhou, A., Zhu, B., Shao, W., Coley-O’Rourke, E. J., De Florencio, S., Kim, J., Choi, J. J., Paredes, M. F., Nowakowski, T. J., Huang, E. J., & Piao, X. (2025, August 6). Microglia regulate GABAergic neurogenesis in prenatal human brain through IGF1. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41586-025-08958-5
• Lanese, N. (2025, August 24). 'Minibrains' reveal secrets of how key brain cells form in the womb. Live Science. https://www.livescience.com/health/neuroscience/minibrains-reveal-secrets-of-how-key-brain-cells-form-in-the-womb?utm_source=chatgpt.com

CellForge AI

• Tang, X., Yu, Z., Chen, J., Cui, Y., Shao, D., Wang, W., Wu, F., Zhuang, Y., Shi, W., Huang, Z., Cohan, A., Lin, X., Theis, F., Krishnaswamy, S., & Gerstein, M. (2025, August 4). CellForge: Agentic design of virtual cell models. arXiv. https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2508.02276  
• GitHub — CellForge code repository (https://github.com/gersteinlab/CellForge) 

Heart Organoids with Vessels

• Abilez, O. J., Yang, H., Guan, Y., Shen, M., Yildirim, Z., Zhuge, Y., Venkateshappa, R., Zhao, S. R., Gomez, A. H., El-Mokahal, M., Dunkenberger, L., Ono, Y., Shibata, M., Nwokoye, P. N., Tian, L., Wilson, K. D., Lyall, E. H., Jia, F., Wo, H. T., Zhou, G., Aldana, B., Karakikes, I., Obal, D., Peltz, G., Zarins, C. K., & Wu, J. C. (2025, June 5). Gastruloids enable modeling of the earliest stages of human cardiac and hepatic vascularization. Science, 388(6751), eadu9375. https://doi.org/10.1126/science.adu9375
• Bai, N. (2025, June 5). How a Stanford breakthrough in lab-grown mini-hearts could change medical research. San Francisco Chronicle. Retrieved from https://www.sfchronicle.com/science/article/heart-organoid-medicine-drug-discovery-research-20357811.php?utm_source=chatgpt.com