Researchers have produced miniature lab brains without the need for animal cells

Researchers from the University of Michigan succeeded in producing human brain organoids with a new method without the need for animal cells.

According to Tekna Technology and Technology News Service, for the first time, researchers have grown artificial miniature brains in the laboratory. These miniature brains can be used for the treatment of neurological diseases and their study methods. In the past years, human brain organoids have been used instead of mice brains to study neurological diseases. Organoids are three-dimensional tissues of embryonic stem cells that show the complex structure of the brain more accurately than two-dimensional cultures.

Now, researchers from the University of Michigan presented a new solution with the aim of overcoming the limitations of making organoids in previous methods. In this project, a new culture method was used, in which an engineered extracellular matrix without the need for animal cells can cause neurogenesis of brain organoids and do it better compared to previous researches.

George Lahan, one of the researchers of this study, said: In this method, there has been significant progress in the development of human brain organoids without the need for animal components. Also, in this method, important steps can be taken to understand the biology of neural development.