hi johannes I saw it here as well: http://www.forbes.com/sites/daviddisalvo/2013/08/29/its-alive-scientists-create-mini-human-brains-for-the-first-time/
The implications are really terrifying dave On 30 August 2013 17:16, Johannes Birringer <[email protected]> wrote: > Dear all > > a couple of listmembers wrote me off list, and perhaps my reference to the > Vienna Institute of Molecular Biotechnology and the report on "Cerebral > Organoids" was obscure to readers here who don't read german. > But it appears the findings from the researchers are now published in > "Nature" (Madeline A. Lancaster, Magdalena Renner, Carol-Anne Martin, Daniel > Wenzel, Louise S. Bicknell, Matthew E. Hurles, Tessa Homfray, > Josef M. Penninger, Andrew P. Jackson & Juergen A. Knoblich: "Cerebral > organoids model human brain development and microcephaly", > doi:10.1038/nature12517, published August 29, 2013) > > > The caption to to image I enclosed yesterday should read: > > "Using stem cells, scientists have grown human "brain organoids" that > demonstrate development of a number of brain regions. In this cross-section > of an entire organoid, neural stem cells are red and neurons are green" > > > I checked whether other newspapers have picked up the news, and found the > following in the LA Times: > [http://www.latimes.com/science/la-sci-brain-organoid-20130829,0,994519.story] > > > Scientists grow tiny brain 'organoids' for study > > The blobs mimic the anatomy of developing human brains, allowing researchers > to study a 3-D model. > By Eryn Brown > > Scientists have figured out how to grow human stem cells into "cerebral > organoids" — blobs of tissue that mimic the anatomy of the developing brain. > The advance, reported online Wednesday by the journal Nature, won't allow > scientists to grow disembodied brains in laboratory vats, said study leader > Juergen Knoblich, a stem cell researcher at the Institute of Molecular > Biotechnology of the Austrian Academy of Science in Vienna. > But it does offer researchers an unprecedented view of human brain anatomy, > he said. Having the ability to probe a 3-D model of a 9-week-old embryo's > brain could help scientists better understand conditions that have been > linked to problems in brain development, including autism and schizophrenia. > In a first, Knoblich's research team has already grown brain organoids using > stem cells from a patient with microcephaly, a rare genetic disorder that > stunts brain growth. > "This allows us to study the disease in a human context" and not just in > mice, Knoblich said. > The Austrian team's work follows a number of efforts to use stem cells — > either from embryos or from mature cells that have been reprogrammed to a > more flexible state — to grow three-dimensional brain tissues for researchers > to study. > Scientists had been able to use such cells to make neurons, gut tissue, > pituitary glands, livers and even rudimentary human eyes, Knoblich said. But > they've never grown a proto-brain complex enough for its different regions to > interact the way they would during early brain development. > The key was to seed the cells in a gel-based scaffold to support them as they > grew into neural tissue and to bathe them in nutrients with a spinning device > called a bioreactor. Following this recipe, the organoids grew to 3 or 4 > millimeters in diameter — a relatively large size, in embryonic biology terms. > The organoid structure became apparent about 20 to 30 days after the start of > the procedure, said Madeline Lancaster, the postdoctoral researcher in > Knoblich's lab who came up with the method. The process seemed to work most > effectively when the tissues were allowed to self-assemble without too much > guidance, she added. > The hundreds of organoids the team made didn't look like 9-week-old embryo > brains, exactly, but they shared many of their key characteristics. By > evaluating gene expression in the tissues of 35 of the organoids, the > scientists confirmed that all incorporated cells that would become the dorsal > cortex, where neurons are generated. > Over two-thirds had a choroid plexus, which makes cerebral spinal fluid. A > few developed retinal tissue or a hippocampus. > The regions weren't spatially organized as they would be in a developing > embryo. But their presence in the organoid was enough to allow the team to > study how neurons form in and migrate through the early brain. > "I often compare this to a car — you have the engine, you have the wheels, > but the engine is on the roof," Knoblich said. "The car would never drive, > but you could take that car and analyze how an engine works." > In the past, scientists studying early human brain development had to work > with mouse brains or human neurons in a dish, said Dr. Anthony Wynshaw-Boris, > a medical geneticist at Case Western Reserve University in Cleveland who > wasn't involved in Knoblich's work. That limited their ability to study > diseases that don't behave the same way in mice as they do in people, or that > involved interactions between differentiated brain structures. > Microcephaly is a case in point. Knoblich and his team decided to study the > rare disorder because they knew that it stemmed from a problem with cell > division in the embryonic dorsal cortex. > They started with a skin cell from a microcephaly patient and followed their > usual method. But the resulting organoid was not the same as those made with > skin cells from healthy patients. The microcephaly organoids had progenitor > cells that divided strangely and generated neurons too early. The result was > fewer neural progenitor cells, which could explain the smaller brain sizes > seen in people with the condition, Lancaster said. > Yoshiki Sasai of the RIKEN Center for Developmental Biology in Kobe, Japan, a > leader in the field who was not involved in the study, called the work with > the microcephaly cells an "important advancement" that showed why > self-organizing cultures are preferable to traditional, two-dimensional cells > in a dish. > Organoids could also be used to test drugs that might mitigate symptoms of > microcephaly and other diseases, Wynshaw-Boris said. > Wynshaw-Boris said he would like to use organoids in his own research, which > seeks to unravel the mechanisms behind autism and lissencephaly, a > developmental disorder in which the surface of the brain never develops its > characteristic folds and grooves. It is caused when neurons don't migrate far > enough through the layers of the cortex, though scientists aren't sure > exactly why they remain deeper in the brain than normal. > Knoblich and Lancaster said they hoped to figure out ways to improve the > layering in the dorsal cortex tissues in their organoids to make a more > realistic model. > The group has no plans to try to generate a functional brain. That would be > extremely difficult because the organoids don't have vascular systems to > deliver nutrients to the cells, or circuitry to transmit any sensory > information, among other practical barriers. > He also said he thought such a pursuit would be unethical. > > > ++++++++ > > > > On Thu, Aug 29, 2013 at 12:16 PM, Johannes Birringer > <[email protected]<mailto:[email protected]>> > wrote: > > Found an article today, in the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung (photo of > brain embryo attached) > > Zerebrale Organoide: Was macht man mit so wenig Hirn? [cerebral > organoids: what to do with so little brain?] > > http://www.faz.net/aktuell/feuilleton/zerebrale-organoide-was-macht-man-mit-so-wenig-hirn-12550596.html > >>The in vitro creation of a human brain from embryonic stem cells is the >>culmination of a biotechnical chain reaction: > The breeding planning and bioengineering control of the body advances over a > new threshold.>> > > The experiment was done in Austria (Wiener Institut für Molekulare > Biotechnologie). > > Looked at the picture for a long time. This cell culture is very tiny, it > appears; the stunned reactions by readers of the article > are enlarging it already. > > > regards > Johannes Birringer > _______________________________________________ > NetBehaviour mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour _______________________________________________ NetBehaviour mailing list [email protected] http://www.netbehaviour.org/mailman/listinfo/netbehaviour
