Almost Fully-Formed Human Brain Grown In Lab

First Almost Fully-Formed Human Brain Grown in Lab, Researchers Claim

Research team say tiny brain could be used to test drugs and study diseases, but scientific peers urge caution as data on breakthrough kept under wraps

Helen Thomson | August 18, 2015

An almost fully-formed human brain has been grown in a lab for the first time, claim scientists from Ohio State University. The team behind the feat hope the brain could transform our understanding of neurological disease.
Though not conscious the miniature brain, which resembles that of a five-week-old foetus, could potentially be useful for scientists who want to study the progression of developmental diseases. It could also be used to test drugs for conditions such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s, since the regions they affect are in place during an early stage of brain development.

This image of the lab-grown brain is labeled to show identifiable structures: the cerebral hemisphere, the optic stalk and the cephalic flexure, a bend in the mid-brain region, all characteristic of the human fetal brain. Source: https://news.osu.edu/news/2015/08/18/human-brain-model/

<more at http://www.theguardian.com/science/2015/aug/18/first-almost-fully-formed-human-brain-grown-in-lab-researchers-claim; related links: http://www.theguardian.com/science/2013/aug/28/miniature-brains-test-tubes-neuroscience (Miniature brains grown in test tubes – a new path for neuroscience? Lab-grown 'organoids' resembling embryo brains could be used for modelling diseases and testing drugs. August 28, 2013) and https://news.osu.edu/news/2015/08/18/human-brain-model/ (Scientist: Most complete human brain model to date is a ‘brain changer’. Once licensed, model likely to accelerate study of Alzheimer’s, autism, more. August 18, 2013>