Glioblastoma and Gliosarcoma Organoid Protocols

Explore groundbreaking research on patient-derived glioblastoma and gliosarcoma models for cancer research with these selected publications. Learn about glioblastoma culture, discover applications of glioblastoma organoid models, and easily add necessary reagents to your cart to replicate these experiments. For detailed, step-by-step experimental procedures, please refer to the original published protocols cited below.

Glioblastoma and gliosarcoma organoid protocols: How to order

1. Select your protocol: Navigate to one of the two protocols below.
2. Add to cart: Navigate to the material and reagents tables, select quantity (1), and add products to your cart.
3. Proceed to checkout: Ensure all items are correct in your cart and proceed with the checkout process.

Description

These publications outline the generation of glioblastoma organoids (GBOs) and gliosarcoma organoids (GSOs) from patient-derived tumor tissue using a conserved culture medium formulation. Jacob et al. (2019, 2020) established a GBO model that recapitulates the histological features, cellular diversity, gene expression, and mutational profiles of parental tumors, providing a powerful platform for studying tumor biology and for use in drug screening. A follow-up study (Logun et al., 2025) demonstrated how these GBOs can be used to study the bioactivity of autologous CAR-T cells. In a separate study (Park et al., 2025), this method was used to generate gliosarcoma organoids. 

Highlights and applications

Efficiency and reproducibility

• GBOs and GSOs form within 1–2 weeks from donor tumor samples.
• Standardized procedures ensure consistent results.

Biological relevance

• GBOs retain histological features, cellular diversity, gene expression, and mutational profiles of parental tumors.
• GBOs can preserve key features of the tumor microenvironment, including hypoxia gradients and microvasculature.

Biobanking compatibility

• GBOs and GSOs can be cryopreserved and recovered, creating a sustainable resource for ongoing research.
• Biobanked GBOs retain expression patterns comparable to the corresponding parental tumor upon culture.

Drug discovery and screening

• Model supports screening of therapeutic compounds in a physiologically relevant 3D environment.
• GBOs maintain tumor heterogeneity and drug-resistant cell types during successive passaging.

Publications

Materials and reagents

Products for organoid production and maintenance

Description

The GLICO (Cerebral Organoid Glioma) model involves co-culturing patient-derived glioblastoma cells with human cerebral organoids to create a 3D system that recapitulates key features of glioblastoma pathology. In this model, glioblastoma cells are microinjected into mature cerebral organoids, where they invade, proliferate, and establish interconnected networks via microtubules, mimicking the invasive behavior observed in patients. This approach maintains critical patient-specific characteristics including EGFR amplification and phospho-RTK signaling while supporting experimental manipulation, drug testing, and real-time imaging. Methods describing stem cell culture and generation of embryoid bodies/neural rosettes prior to embedding within basement membrane extract hydrogels for differentiation to cerebral organoids are available in a previously published application note: Differentiation of Pluripotent Stem Cells into Neural Organoids.

Highlights and applications

Tumor-brain interactions:

• GLICOs enable study of invasion mechanisms in human brain tissue.
• Model supports analysis of tumor cell communication with normal brain cells.
• System allows investigation of microtubule network formation.

Tumor biology research:

• The GLICO model maintains patient-specific EGFR amplification and phospho-RTK signaling.
• Genetic features of parental tumors are maintained in culture.

Drug discovery and screening:

• Model enables screening of potential anti-glioblastoma compounds and ionizing radiation.
• GLICOs could be used to study treatment resistance mechanisms and effect of therapies on non-malignant cells.

Publication

Materials and reagents

Notice to Purchaser: Products sold by Life Technologies Corporation (part of Thermo Fisher Scientific, Inc.) associated with the described protocol(s) along with their methods of use are not provided with a license to any patents not owned by or licensed to Life Technologies Corporation. Users of Life Technologies Corporation’s products should determine for themselves whether they have all of the appropriate licenses in place to use the products in the manner they desire. Further, no warranty is provided that the use of these products will not infringe third party intellectual property.

Intended use statements may vary.