Brain Developed in Dish Will Enable Ethical, Accurate Drug Testing

Scientists at the Ohio State University have recently developed a human brain in a dish, engineered from adult human skin cells. Human skin cells have been first reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells, which have been further differentiated into neural tissue. Such a system will enable ethical, rapid, and more accurate testing of novel experimental drugs and will help get insights into the genetic and environmental causes of brain disorders, such as neurodegenerative diseases, traumatic brain injury, and post-traumatic stress disorder. Additionally, by adding a pump to supply blood, this model could be also suitable to study stroke and assess new therapies. Traditional testing of drugs possibly affecting the developing human brain has relied heavily on animals.