Scientists believe ‘minibrains’ will show more reliable results in drug tests than mice or rats – via http://www.dailymail.co.uk/
Laboratory-made “minibrains” that show a primitive ability to think could transform research on neurological diseases and treatments, scientists say.
The tiny balls of brain cells, each about the size of a housefly’s eye, have been created by US researchers who claim they could be mass-produced in large numbers.
Grown from stem cells, the brains contain many of the neurons and cells of their full-sized human equivalents.
Scientists believe they will provide far more reliable results in drug tests and other experiments than animal “models” such as mice and rats.
Lead researcher Professor Thomas Hartung from the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health in the US, said: “Ninety-five per cent of drugs that look promising when tested in animal models fail once they are tested in humans at great expense of time and money.
“While rodent models have been useful, we are not 150lb rats. And even though we are not balls of cells either, you can often get much better information from these balls of cells than from rodents.
“We believe that the future of brain research will include less reliance on animals, more reliance on human, cell-based models.”
The brains were created using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), adult cells that have been genetically reprogrammed into an embryonic stem cell-like state.
Stimulation with the right chemical cocktail causes the iPSCs to further develop into the different cells and layers of the brain.
Potentially, thousands of exact copies can be produced – a hundred in just one laboratory petri dish, say the scientists. They can also be customised to display certain traits or genetic defects associated with diseases such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis, as well stroke or trauma.
Learn more: ‘Minibrains’ breakthrough in neuro-research
The Latest on: Minibrains
[google_news title=”” keyword=”minibrains” num_posts=”10″ blurb_length=”0″ show_thumb=”left”]
via Google News
The Latest on: Minibrains
- New strategies generate more accurate pediatric brain organoidson November 28, 2023 at 7:07 am
Essential features of the cortex, an important part of the human brain and its development, are more accurately captured in organoids generated by researchers of the Princess Máxima Center for ...
- How Multi-Agent LLMs Working Together Will Impact Businesson November 28, 2023 at 3:15 am
You may have engaged two AI models in conversation before, but have you considered the profound impact those interactions could have on the future of commerce?
- Therapy to treat rare, hereditary diseaseson November 24, 2023 at 11:02 am
Over many decades much study has been conducted on diseases that affect big populations such as cancer and heart disease As a result of long-term research ef ...
- Scientists say killing 'zombie' cells can reverse brain ageing caused by Covidon November 24, 2023 at 6:19 am
In new research, scientists have found a way to reverse the premature ageing of the brain accelerated by COVID-19 infection, by killing 'zombie' cells. A team of researchers from the University of ...
- Neuroscientists Kill 'Zombie' Cells to Reverse COVID Brain Agingon November 23, 2023 at 6:27 am
Infection with SARS-CoV-2 accelerates the rate of premature aging in the brain. But what if there was a way to turn back the clock?
- Growing mini brains to save lives (IMAGE)on November 23, 2023 at 5:31 am
Researchers create mini-brains from skin cells in the lab. The mini-brains are used to test out medicines and gene therapy. The work has provided new knowledge and ideas for the treatment of ...
- Scientists may have found a way to reverse ageing with ‘zombie-hunter’ drugson November 20, 2023 at 12:30 pm
Zombie cells” could be driving cognitive decline in older people and the brain fog associated with long COVID. Now scientists have found the zombie hunters.
- Scientists Working to Build Biocomputers Out of Lab-Grown "Minibrains"on February 28, 2023 at 4:00 pm
A team of scientists has grown "minibrains" in a lab, with the eventual goal of linking them together to form super-efficient "biocomputers." In a new paper published in the journal Frontiers in ...
- Living Human Brainon July 24, 2022 at 5:29 am
Living Human Brain (LHB) is a Business Finland-funded Research to Business (R2B)-project. In this project we are developing LHB-technology for creating mini-brains that contain all of the most ...
- Mini brains' can help us understand what makes us human,” said a neuroscience experton April 10, 2022 at 5:00 pm
The laboratory uses mini-brains to study the most fundamental differences between the development of the human brain and that of other mammalian species. Its progress jeopardizes everything that ...
via Bing News
