Dissecting human organ development using spatial technologies

Spatial technologies have revolutionized the study of human development by enabling molecular profiling within intact tissue architecture. Advances in spatial transcriptomics, epigenomics, proteomics, metabolomics, and multiomics have generated high-resolution atlases of embryonic and fetal organs, which have revealed how gene regulatory programs, cell-cell interactions, and tissue patterning are organized in space and time during organogenesis. However, limited access to human developmental tissues and ethical constraints restrict experimental validation and mechanistic studies. Stem cell-derived organoids offer tractable, human-relevant models that recapitulate key structural and cellular features of developing organs while allowing controlled perturbation and longitudinal analysis. Integrating spatial profiling with organoids constitutes a sophisticated methodology for systematic analysis of lineage specification, niche signaling, and metabolic maturation. This review synthesizes current spatial technologies, highlights emerging organoid-based technologies, and discusses future directions integrating spatial multiomics, machine learning, and accessible data resources to advance mechanistic and predictive developmental biology.