{"id":12187,"date":"2018-01-31T17:00:24","date_gmt":"2018-01-31T16:00:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/?p=12187"},"modified":"2024-03-22T23:32:14","modified_gmt":"2024-03-22T22:32:14","slug":"using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains\/","title":{"rendered":"Using mini brains to understand big brains"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Ahead of the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.embo-embl-symposia.org\/symposia\/2018\/EES18-01\/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tissue Self-Organisation: Challenging the Systems<\/a>\u201d conference, speaker <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/group-leaders\/h-to-m\/madeline-lancaster\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Madeline Lancaster<\/a> shares how curiosity and serendipity culminated in her pioneering method to grow cerebral organoids. These miniaturised and simplified versions of the human brain produced in the lab are now used by researchers around the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What unsolved question would you like to answer?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>I want to learn what makes us human. We are very intelligent animals and I think our exceptional intelligence stems from the unique characteristics of the human brain. When compared to other animals\u2019, the human brain has unique cell types, is bigger than expected and contains more neurons \u2013 almost a hundred billion neurons in a 1.3 kg brain. I am especially interested in the early events that determine what types of cells are made and how many, because I believe this is what sets the human brain apart. Obviously, it\u2019s quite difficult to study how the brain works and its development in living animals. This has compelled scientists to find alternative ways to study it \u2013 like cerebral organoids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<blockquote class=\"vf-blockquote\"><p>I want to learn what makes us human<\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">How did you first create brain organoids?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>It was a clear case of serendipity. I was a post-doc in Juergen Knoblich\u2019s lab in Vienna and I wanted to grow mouse neural stem cells to see the effect that genes previously found in flies had in mouse neural stem cell identity. To do so, I cultivated stem cells in a dish using a method called neural rosettes, where the stem cells stick to the dish and grow in a 2D fashion. But my cells didn\u2019t stick. They just floated off making these really interesting balls of tissue. So I had two projects running. The official one, trying to create neural rosettes \u2013 which I did in the end \u2013 while on the side I played with the balls of tissue that formed when the neural rosettes didn\u2019t work. I knew that people making intestinal organoids cultivated them in Matrigel, so I decided to put my little weird balls of tissue in Matrigel, too, just to see what would happen. And they became amazingly complex 3D structures! The first time I opened the incubator, looked in the dish and saw an organoid with all of its beautiful structures, I was incredibly awed by it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image size-full wp-image-12196\"><figure class=\"vf-figure  | vf-figure--align vf-figure--align-centered \"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"620\" height=\"380\" class=\"vf-figure__image\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/180131-profile-lancaster1.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Madeline Lancaster\" class=\"wp-image-12196\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/180131-profile-lancaster1.jpg 620w, https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/180131-profile-lancaster1-300x184.jpg 300w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 620px) 100vw, 620px\" \/><figcaption class=\"vf-figure__caption\">Madeline Lancaster. PHOTO: MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology<\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What are the limitations of using organoids?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>Cerebral organoids model development very well. They are great for looking at the generation of neurons and how neural stem cells behave. Unfortunately, there are some major limitations once the neurons are made \u2013 it\u2019s not the same to have brain tissue growing in a dish as growing in a head. So, neurons mature to some degree, but there\u2019s no proper neural network forming the connections found in an actual brain. I don\u2019t think we will ever end up with a fully formed human brain in a dish \u2013 and we don\u2019t want to \u2013 because of the limitations of not having a cardiovascular system. But cerebral organoids can still be improved and I believe some of the limitations will be overcome with creative bioengineering approaches. For specific questions \u2013 like the interaction of the vascular system with the brain barrier or the crossing of drugs across the blood-brain barrier \u2013 tweaks in the method will allow for new avenues of investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h3 class=\"wp-block-heading\">What do you think the field will look like in 15 years?<\/h3>\n\n\n\n<p>We are still far from realising organoids\u2019 full potential, because it\u2019s a relatively new method and there\u2019s still so much to do in terms of model characterisation. At the same time, I think they are already having a big impact. In the future, organoids will be the go-to tool for studying human brain biology, from development to function and disease \u2013 especially those diseases that are specific to humans, like autism or microcephaly. Potentially, brain organoids can also provide insight into drug therapy development. I think it\u2019s going to evolve into different subfields where people will use organoids in different ways, providing insight into different questions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>Madeline Lancaster leads a lab at the Cell Biology Division of the Medical Research Council (MRC) Laboratory of Molecular Biology, part of the Cambridge Biomedical Campus, UK, where she uses cerebral organoids to better understand human brain development.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"vf-box vf-box--normal vf-box-theme--primary\">\n<p class=\"vf-box__text\" style=\"float: left; margin: 5px 16px 0 0;\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-12566 alignleft\" src=\"https:\/\/news.embl.de\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/EMBL_Origins_Facebook_150x150.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"150\" height=\"150\"\/><\/p>\n<p class=\"vf-box__text\" style=\"margin-top: 0;\">\n<\/p><p class=\"vf-box__text\">Some of the most fascinating questions in science are about origins. As part of our latest editorial theme, we\u2019re exploring the idea of origins at EMBL. We want to talk about the origins of biological systems, about our people and the paths that brought them here, and the discoveries and ideas that have their origins here.<\/p>\n<p class=\"vf-box__text\" style=\"margin-top: 40px;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/news.embl.de\/tag\/origins\">Read more articles in the Origins theme.<\/a><\/p>\n<p class=\"vf-box__text\"><\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>What opportunities can organoids bring to further the understanding of the human brain?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":12190,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4,17591],"tags":[203,92,43,559,431],"embl_taxonomy":[],"class_list":["post-12187","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-events","category-science-technology","tag-embo","tag-event","tag-heidelberg","tag-origin","tag-tissue-biology"],"acf":{"article_intro":"<p>What opportunities can organoids bring to further the understanding of the human brain?<\/p>\n","related_links":[{"link_description":"Lancaster research group","link_url":"http:\/\/www2.mrc-lmb.cam.ac.uk\/group-leaders\/h-to-m\/madeline-lancaster\/"},{"link_description":"\u201cTissue Self-Organisation: Challenging the Systems\u201d conference","link_url":"https:\/\/www.embo-embl-symposia.org\/symposia\/2018\/EES18-01\/index.html"}],"article_sources":false,"vf_locked":false,"featured":false,"color":"#007B53"},"embl_taxonomy_terms":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Using mini brains to understand big brains | EMBL<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Madeline Lancaster shares how curiosity and serendipity culminated in her pioneering method to grow cerebral organoids.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Using mini brains to understand big brains | EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Madeline Lancaster shares how curiosity and serendipity culminated in her pioneering method to grow cerebral organoids.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"EMBL\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/embl.org\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2018-01-31T16:00:24+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-03-22T22:32:14+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/180131-profile-lancaster.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"620\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"425\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Berta Carre\u00f1o\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@embl\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Berta Carre\u00f1o\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Berta Carre\u00f1o\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/3188b4d1fc563c4c62a41ab642fda2b5\"},\"headline\":\"Using mini brains to understand big brains\",\"datePublished\":\"2018-01-31T16:00:24+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-03-22T22:32:14+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains\/\"},\"wordCount\":790,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/events\/using-mini-brains-understand-big-brains\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.embl.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/01\/180131-profile-lancaster.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"embo\",\"event\",\"heidelberg\",\"origin\",\"tissue biology\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Events\",\"Science &amp; 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