Have we finally arrived at Dr. Moreau's island?
Scientists have "succeeded" in transplanting a cluster of living human brain cells from a dish in the lab to the brain of a newborn rat to study brain disorders. What could possibly go wrong?
Human brain development is a remarkable self-organizing process in which cells proliferate, differentiate, migrate, and wire to form functioning neural circuits that are subsequently refined by sensory experience. A critical challenge for scientists in understanding human brain development, particularly in the context of difference or disease, is a lack of access to active brain tissue. By applying instructive signals to human induced pluripotent stem (hiPS) cells grown in three-dimensional (3D) cultures, self-organizing organoids resembling specific regions of the nervous system, including human cortical organoids (hCO; also known as human cortical spheroids) can be generated.
What does all of that mean? It means that a team from Stanford University believe they have a new way to study brain wiring issues like autism, ADHD, and schizophrenia. The approach involves transplanting a cluster of living human brain cells from a dish in the lab to the brain of a newborn rat.
Indeed, Dr. Moreau lives. Check out the research, and NPR’s commentary on it. Let me know what you think? Has the vile eugenicist, H.G. Wells, finally got his wish?