Alzheimer's in a Dish Advances Therapy Testing

Harvard University researchers have developed a method for studying Alzheimer’s disease in a laboratory dish, a technique that could potentially eliminate the use of animals commonly used to test potential drugs. According to a new report in Nature, the researchers have grown human neurons in a 3-dimensional culture, then introduced the genetic traits associated with inherited Alzheimer’s disease. The cells then began to produce the amyloid plaques and neurofibrillary tangles that are the hallmarks of Alzheimer disease, paving the way for testing Alzheimer's therapies.