Human stem cells transformed to mimic early nervous system
A team of engineers and biologists at the University of Michigan, the Weizmann Institute of Science, and the University of Pennsylvania have pioneered the first stem cell culture method capable of producing a full model of the early stages of the human central nervous system.
The findings published in the journal Nature showed a 3D human organoid, demonstrating stem cell cultures that mimic essential structural and functional features of human organ systems, albeit as incomplete or imperfect replicas.
"Models like this will open doors for fundamental research to understand early development of the human central nervous system and how it could go wrong in different disorders," said Jianping Fu, U-M professor of mechanical engineering and corresponding author of the study.
"We try to understand not only the basic biology of human brain development, but also diseases—why we have brain-related diseases, their pathology, and how we can come up with effective strategies to treat them," said Guo-Li Ming and Hongjun Song, Perelman Professors of Neuroscience at UPenn and co-authors of the study. They developed protocols for growing and guiding the cells and characterized the structural and cellular characteristics of the model.
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