#mini brains

Mini brains grown in a lab from stem cells spontaneously developed rudimentary eye structures, scientists reported in a fascinating 2021 paper.

On tiny, human-derived brain organoids grown in dishes, two bilaterally symmetrical optic cups were seen to grow, mirroring the development of eye structures in human embryos. This incredible result could help us to better understand the process of eye differentiation and development, as well as eye diseases.

"Our work highlights the remarkable ability of brain organoids to generate primitive sensory structures that are light sensitive and harbor cell types similar to those found in the body," said neuroscientist Jay Gopalakrishnan of University Hospital Düsseldorf in Germany in a 2021 statement.

Fun Fact Friday!!

Shielded by our thick skulls and swaddled in layers of protective tissue, the human brain is extremely difficult to observe in action. Luckily, scientists can study this pencil-eraser-sized mass of cells - also known as a brain organoid to look closer. It’s a collection of lab-grown neurons and other brain tissue that scientists can use to learn about full-grown human brains. And it can be grown from a sample of your skin cells.

As mini brains grow, they follow all the steps of fetal brain development. By observing this process, we can learn how our neurons develop, as well as how we end up with so many more of them in our cortex, the part responsible for higher cognition like logic and reasoning, than other species. 

Scientists aren’t likely to grow larger brain organoids anytime soon. Without blood vessels to feed them, their size is limited to one centimeter at most. There’s nothing quite like the actual human brain, but mini brains are an unprecedented tool for studying everything from development to disease. With luck, these humble organoids can help us discover what makes the human brain unique, and maybe bring us closer to answering the age-old question: what makes us human?

From the TED-Ed Lesson What are mini brains? - Madeline Lancaster

3D Mini Brains Accelerate Research for Repairing Brain Function

The Houston Methodist Research Institute is making mini brains from human stem cells that put researchers on a fast track to repair the nervous system after injury or disease of the brain and spinal cord.

Organoids aren’t science fiction anymore. Going by the advances in tissue culture techniques, it is now possible to grow 3D ‘organ buds’: lab-grown bundles of cells resembling an organ (heart, liver or intestine) which are employed to study development, test drugs and understand diseases.