This archive report was first published on 29 August 2019.
On August 29, 2019, a team of scientists made a groundbreaking discovery in the field of neurological research. They successfully grew lab-grown mini-brains, also known as brain organoids, that exhibited electrical activity for the first time.
The breakthrough was announced in a paper published in the journal Cell Press, where the researchers revealed that the mini-brains developed functional neural networks, a feat that had never been achieved before.
According to Alysson Muotri, a biologist at the University of California San Diego, the team's success was due to a combination of factors, including a better procedure for growing stem cells and allowing the neurons adequate time to develop.
"If you had asked me five years ago would you think that a brain organoid would ever have a sophisticated network able to generate a brain oscillation, I would say no," Muotri said.
The team began to detect bursts of brain waves from the organoids around two months, which were sparse and had the same frequency as very immature human brains. However, as the organoids continued to grow, they produced brain waves at different frequencies, and the signals appeared more regularly, suggesting further development of their neural networks.
The discovery has significant implications for neurological research, as it could lead to the modeling of neurological conditions such as autism, epilepsy, and psychiatric conditions. By creating brain organoids from the stem cells of individuals with these conditions, scientists could better understand the underlying causes and potentially find cures.
