This year, Leqian Yu’s and Jingtao Guo’s research groups of the Institute of Zoology of the Chinese Academy of Sciences joined hands to make a major breakthrough in the field of human embryonic development research. They successfully conducted 3D reconstruction of a gastrulating human embryo and relevant paper has been published on the top international academic journal Cell.

Scientific problems as “white whale”

In each research field, there are some scientific problems known as “white whale”, which are targets of scientists all around the world.

Leqian Yu’s research focus is the early development of the human embryo utilizing stem cells and in vitro embryoid. He once developed the first complete human blastocyst-like model and was named one of the top ten technological advances in the world in 2021.

After returning to China and joining the Institute of Zoology, he still remembered the “white whale”, but lacked a suitable opportunity until he met Jingtao Guo at an academic forum.

Jingtao Guo’s main research direction refers to biology of evolution and biology of reproduction. He is adept at using various omics research methods, such as spatial transcriptomics, and applying artificial intelligence (AI) to mine key information from massive amounts of data.

If spatial transcriptomics can draw blueprints for embryos, then the reconstruction and analysis of data from spatial transcriptomics using AI can yield 3D in vitro “digital embryo”, which may reproduce the developmental process of human embryos during the corresponding period. Shortly after the forum ended, a research team composed of five research groups centered around Leqian Yu and Jingtao Guo was quickly formed.

Experiments can be both “cool” and “crazy”

Next, they started “cool”, “crazy” experiments. The research group, through rigorous ethical review, luckily obtained about 21-day-old human embryo---only as big as a small grain of rice, and wrapped in a small group of tissue.

They needed to slice the “small grain of rice” into over 100 pieces (10 μm thick), and tested over 20,000 genes in a cell with spatial transcriptomics and machine learning technology.

After slicing, the “pieces” needed to be fit together---the data from over 100 “planes” were stacked together to form a dataset with a 3D spatial structure.

They finally took 4 months to complete the experiment.

A new cooperation mode of “1+1＞2”

When reviewing the experience, Leqian Yu and Jingtao Guo realized that they had unconsciously broken through the wall of traditional “PI” system.

In this specific project, relevant members of each research group have almost “flowed together”. The research group, which originally had complementary advantages, has changed from “you can” and “I can” to “we can”, just like the combination of Calabash Brothers with different superpowers into a King of Calabash Brothers, demonstrating the power of all-around athletes.

The key lab has strongly supported Leqian Yu and Jingtao Guo to tackle mini “institutionalization”, including a surprising amount of special support fund for basic capacity building. “We need to spend money carefully. After all, there’s still a lot to do next”, they quipped. For them, publishing a paper on top journals is apparently not a terminal. In the future, they will continue to pursue their scientific dreams  of analyzing life, reconstructing embryos, and benefiting humanity.