Scientists have grown miniature human brains in test tubes, creating a “tool” that will allow them watch how the organs develop in the womb and, they hope, increase their understanding of neurological and mental problems.
Just a few millimeters across, the “cerebral organoids” are built up of layers of brain cells with defined regions that resemble those seen in immature embryonic brains.
The scientists say the organoids will be useful for biologists who want to analyze how conditions such as schizophrenia or autism occur in the brain; though these are usually diagnosed in older people, some of the underlying defects occur during the brain’s early development.
Photo: EPA / Institute of Molecular Biotechnology / Madeline Lancaster
The organoids are expected also to be useful in the development and testing of drugs. At present this is done using laboratory animals or isolated human cells; the new organoids could allow pharmacologists to test drugs in more human-like settings.
Scientists have previously made models of other human organs in the lab, including eyes, pituitary glands and livers.
In the latest work, researchers at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology, in Vienna, Austria, started with stem cells encouraged to grow into brain cells in a nourishing gel-like matrix, which recreated conditions similar to those inside the human womb.
After several months the cells had formed spheres measuring about 3mm to 4mm in diameter.
“The cerebral organoids display discrete regions that resemble different areas of the early developing human brain. These include the dorsal cortex identity — the dorsal cortex is the largest part of the human brain — they also include regions representing the ventral forebrain and even the immature retina,” said Madeline Lancaster, who was first author of the paper published in Nature magazine on Wednesday.
Juergen Knoblich, who was part of the team that created the organoids, said that tests on the brain cells in the structures showed that they were functional.
“Previous models were pieces of small tissue that aggregated to a decent size but there was no success so far in generating something that would resemble the cortex in a particular stage of development,” he said.
At the moment the structures did not grow larger than a few millimeters in the culture dishes because nutrients and oxygen could not reach into the center of the organoids as they grew. To grow much bigger the organoids would need to be equipped with a blood supply of some kind that could feed their centers.
However, he said the organoids were unlikely to reach the complexity required to model cognition or any other higher brain function.
Gaza is rapidly running out of its limited fuel supply and stocks of food staples might become tight, officials said, after Israel blocked the entry of fuel and goods into the war-shattered territory, citing fighting with Iran. The Israeli military closed all Gaza border crossings on Saturday after announcing airstrikes on Iran carried out jointly with the US. Israeli authorities late on Monday night said that they would reopen the Kerem Shalom crossing from Israel to Gaza yesterday, for “gradual entry of humanitarian aid” into the strip, without saying how much. Israeli authorities previously said the crossings could not be operated safely during
Hungarian authorities temporarily detained seven Ukrainian citizens and seized two armored cars carrying tens of millions of euros in cash across Hungary on suspicion of money laundering, officials said on Friday. The Ukrainians were released on Friday, following their detention on Thursday, but Hungarian officials held onto the cash, prompting Ukraine to accuse Hungary’s Russia-friendly government of illegally seizing the money. “We will not tolerate this state banditism,” Ukrainian Minister of Foreign Affairs Andrii Sybiha said. The seven detained Ukrainians were employees of the Ukrainian state-owned Oschadbank, who were traveling in the two armored cars that were carrying the money between Austria and
Kosovar President Vjosa Osmani on Friday after dissolving the Kosovar parliament said a snap election should be held as soon as possible to avoid another prolonged political crisis in the Balkan country at a time of global turmoil. Osmani said it is important for Kosovo to wrap up the upcoming election process and form functional institutions for political stability as the war rages in the Middle East. “Precisely because the geopolitical situation is that complex, it is important to finish this electoral process which is coming up,” she said. “It is very hard now to imagine what will happen next.” Kosovo, which declared
MORE BANS: Australia last year required sites to remove accounts held by under-16s, with a few countries pushing for similar action at an EU level and India considering its own ban Indonesia on Friday said it would ban social media access for children under 16, citing threats from online pornography, cyberbullying, online fraud and Internet addiction. “Accounts belonging to children under 16 on high-risk platforms will start to be deactivated, beginning with YouTube, TikTok, Facebook, Instagram, Threads, X, Bigo Live and Roblox,” Indonesian Minister of Communications and Digital Meutya Hafid said. “The government is stepping in so that parents no longer have to fight alone against the giants of the algorithm. Implementation will begin on March 28, 2026,” she said. The social media ban would be introduced in stages “until all platforms fulfill their
RSS