Mini human brains grown from stem cells

The first complete living model of the developing human brain has been created in a lab dish.

Researchers grew human stem cells in an environment that encouraged them to form pea-size gobs of brain tissue, which developed into distinct brain tissues, including a cerebral cortex and retina.

The minibrains were used to model microcephaly, a human genetic disorder in which brain size is dramatically reduced. Though not capable of consciousness or other higher cognitive functions, the minibrains allow scientists to study aspects of the developing human brain that are difficult to model in animals.

"The mouse brain is not always a good model system for the human brain," study researcher Jüergen Knoblich, of the Austrian Academy of Science's Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna, said at a news conference. "Our system allows us to study human-specific features of brain development."

Other groups have grown small pieces of neural tissue in the lab before, but none has been able to successfully grow tissue that contained both a cortex — the specialized outer layer of the brain — and other brain regions, Knoblich said.

http://news.ca.msn.com/top-stories/mini ... stem-cells

This is both fascinating and creepy to me ~

roseanne, are you suggesting that maybe the researchers "accidentally" confused human stem cells with mouse or slug or snake stem cells? ~

Sooz

It was suspected since ages. That's why the republicans and Bush were fighting tooth and nail to ban stem cell research.
Now the cat is out of the bag.