Cerebral organoids (mini-brains) from stem cells
Organoides cerebrales (minicerebros) de células madre
- Date
- 2013 · confidence high
- Place
- Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA), Vienna, Austria
- Credited to
- Madeline Lancaster and Jürgen Knoblich
- Field
- Life & health
What it is
Lancaster and Knoblich let human pluripotent stem cells grow in gel and obtained aggregates of nervous tissue with organised brain regions. They are three-dimensional models of human brain development, useful for studying microcephaly and the Zika virus.
Published in Nature in September 2013; Sato's intestinal organoid (2009) and Sasai's work (RIKEN, Japan) on cortex and optic cup are the antecedents.
What it led to
- models of microcephaly and Zika infection (2016)
- patient-derived organoids for testing drugs and neurodevelopmental disorders
- ethical debate on consciousness in organoids and their transplantation into animals