Stem Cell Clinic

Metabolic Mechanism Activates Stem Cells in the Adult Brain – Technology Networks

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A team of biologists led by UNIGE and UNIL has discovered how to awaken neural stem cells and reactivate them in adult mice.

Some areas of the adult brain contain quiescent, or dormant, neural stem cells that can potentially be reactivated to form new neurons. However, the transition from quiescence to proliferation is still poorly understood. A team led by scientists from the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Lausanne (UNIL) has discovered the importance of cell metabolism in this process and identified how to wake up these neural stem cells and reactivate them. Biologists succeeded in increasing the number of new neurons in the brain of adult and even elderly mice. These results, promising for the treatment of neurodegenerative diseases, are to be discovered in the journalScience Advances.

Stem cells have the unique ability to continuously produce copies of themselves and give rise to differentiated cells with more specialized functions. Neural stem cells (NSCs) are responsible for building the brain during embryonic development, generating all the cells of the central nervous system, including neurons.

Surprisingly, NSCs persist in certain brain regions even after the brain is fully formed and can make new neurons throughout life. This biological phenomenon, called adult neurogenesis, is important for specific functions such as learning and memory processes. However, in the adult brain, these stem cells become more silent or dormant and reduce their capacity for renewal and differentiation. As a result, neurogenesis decreases significantly with age. The laboratories of Jean-Claude Martinou, Emeritus Professor in the Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology at the UNIGE Faculty of Science, and Marlen Knobloch, Associate Professor in the Department of Biomedical Sciences at the UNIL Faculty of Biology and Medicine, have uncovered a metabolic mechanism by which adult NSCs can emerge from their dormant state and become active.

We found that mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles within cells, are involved in regulating the level of activation of adult NSCs,explains Francesco Petrelli, research fellow at UNIL and co-first author of the study with Valentina Scandella. The mitochondrial pyruvate transporter (MPC), a protein complex discovered eleven years ago in Professor Martinous group, plays a particular role in this regulation. Its activity influences the metabolic options a cell can use. By knowing the metabolic pathways that distinguish active cells from dormant cells, scientists can wake up dormant cells by modifying their mitochondrial metabolism.

Biologists have blocked MPC activity by using chemical inhibitors or by generating mutant mice for theMpc1gene. Using these pharmacological and genetic approaches, the scientists were able to activate dormant NSCs and thus generate new neurons in the brains of adult and even aged mice. With this work, we show that redirection of metabolic pathways can directly influence the activity state of adult NSCs and consequently the number of new neurons generated, summarizes Professor Knobloch, co-lead author of the study. These results shed new light on the role of cell metabolism in the regulation of neurogenesis. In the long term, these results could lead to potential treatments for conditions such as depression or neurodegenerative diseases, concludes Jean-Claude Martinou, co-lead author of the study.

Reference:Petrelli F, Scandella V, Montessuit S, Zamboni N, Martinou JC, Knobloch M. Mitochondrial pyruvate metabolism regulates the activation of quiescent adult neural stem cells. Science Advances. 2023;9(9):eadd5220. doi:10.1126/sciadv.add5220

This article has been republished from the following materials. Note: material may have been edited for length and content. For further information, please contact the cited source.

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Metabolic Mechanism Activates Stem Cells in the Adult Brain - Technology Networks

Early Mayo Clinic research finds hope in stem cell therapy for … – EurekAlert

ROCHESTER, Minn. A dissolvable plug delivered stem cell therapy with few side effects in patients with single tractperianal fistulas,Mayo Clinicresearchers discovered. Perianal fistulas are painful tunnels between the intestine and the skin that often do not go away with standard medical or surgical care. People withCrohn's diseaseor otherinflammatory bowel conditionsare most at risk for this condition.

In a prospective, phase 1 clinical trial, researchers loaded stem cells from a patient's own fat tissue onto a bioabsorbable plug that was then surgically implanted to close the anal fistula tract. They followed the patients for one year and reported results of their early research inDiseases of the Colon & Rectum.

"In this early study, our team documented healing of single-tract fistulas," saysEric Dozois, M.D., a colorectal surgeon and first author on the study. "In my 20 years of clinical experience, our fistula research suggests we are getting closer to a care model."

As many as 26% of people with Crohn's disease will develop perianal fistulas. Most often, it starts with an infection within the anal gland and often progresses into an abscess that sometimes requires surgery. Left untreated, perianal fistulas leak fecal material and can lead to permanent colostomy and, in some cases, cancer. A colostomy is a surgical opening in the abdomen that bypasses the damaged colon to rid the body of solid waste. Perianal fistulas can cause quality-of-life challenges, such as the need to wear pads to protect clothing and prevent odor.

"Perianal fistulas are a complex medical condition that, even when repaired surgically, can reoccur, causing a lot of suffering for patients," saysWilliam Faubion Jr., M.D., a gastroenterologist and senior author on the study. "Our hope with this research is to advance a cell-based therapy toward daily clinical care that would be easy to implant in the operating room and offer a new option for patients with unmet needs."

The research

The research team extracted mesenchymal stem cells from adipose (fat) tissue of 20 patients with perianal fistulas who had not responded to standard medical or surgical treatment. Mesenchymal stem cells are adult stem cells with healing potential that have been well studied. After multiplying the stem cells in the lab, the team combined the cells with a plug created from a dissolvable material. They surgically implanted the plug to close the anal fistula tract then monitored the patients seven times within 12 months, with a focus on investigating safety. They also studied whether the treatment intervention led to clinical healing that could be confirmed through deep tissue imaging.

Dr. Dozois' team documented complete healing of 14 patients at six months and 13 patients at one year. Three patients withdrew for various reasons during the course of the clinical trial.

Four participants reported side effects such as infections that required admission to the hospital or surgical draining of an abscess. Twelve participants experienced reactions considered to be minor, such as redness, fever or nausea.

Based on their findings, Dr. Dozois' team is recommending further study of the stem cell-coated fistula plug with larger sample sizes and more types of fistulas. If all goes well, it could take two or three years before this procedure is approved for routine clinical care.

Dr. Dozois, Dr. Faubion and Mayo Clinic have financial interests in the regenerative fistula plug technology. Any profits Mayo Clinic realizes from its business ventures are reinvested in research and education initiatives at Mayo.

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About Mayo ClinicMayo Clinicis a nonprofit organization committed to innovation in clinical practice, education and research, and providing compassion, expertise and answers to everyone who needs healing. Visit theMayo Clinic News Networkfor additional Mayo Clinic news.

Diseases of the Colon & Rectum

Durable Response in Patients With Refractory Fistulizing Perianal Crohns Disease Using Autologous Mesenchymal Stem Cells on a Dissolvable Matrix: Results from the Phase I Stem Cell on Matrix Plug Trial

Dr. Dozois, Dr. Faubion and Mayo Clinic have financial interests in the regenerative fistula plug technology. Any profits Mayo Clinic realizes from its business ventures are reinvested in research and education initiatives at Mayo.

Disclaimer: AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert system.

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Early Mayo Clinic research finds hope in stem cell therapy for ... - EurekAlert

Stem cell therapy may reduce risk of heart attack and stroke in … – CTV News

Published Feb. 27, 2023 3:30 p.m. ET

Cell therapy, involving adult stem cells from bone marrow, has been shown to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke in severe heart failure patients, according to a new study.

A single administration of adult stem cells directly into an inflamed heart, through a catheter, could result in a long-term 58 per cent reduced risk of heart attack or stroke among heart failure patients with reduced ejection fraction, meaning they have a weakened heart muscle, suggests the study, published Monday in the Journal of the American College of Cardiology.

The study is being called the largest clinical trial of cell therapy to date in patients with heart failure, a serious condition that occurs when the heart can't pump enough blood to meet the body's needs.

"We followed these patients during several years -- three years -- and what we found was that their hearts got stronger. We found a very significant reduction in heart attack and stroke, especially in the patient that we measured in their blood that they had more inflammation going on," said the study's lead author Dr. Emerson Perin, a practicing cardiologist and medical director at The Texas Heart Institute in Houston.

"That effect, it was there across everyone, but for the patient that had inflammation, it was even more significant," Perin said. "And there also is evidence that we had a reduction in cardiovascular deaths."

The therapy involves injecting mesenchymal precursor cells into the heart. These particular stem cells have anti-inflammatory properties, which could improve outcomes in heart failure patients since elevated inflammation is a hallmark feature of chronic heart failure.

More than 6 million adults in the United States have chronic heart failure, and most are treated with drugs that address the symptoms of the condition. The patients included in the new study were all taking medications for heart failure, and the new research suggests that cell therapy can be beneficial when used in conjunction with heart failure drugs.

"You can imagine, we keep everybody going and doing better with the medicine. And now we have a treatment that actually addresses the cause and quiets everything down. So, this line of investigation really has a great future and I can see that, with a confirmatory trial, we can bring this kind of treatment into the mainstream," Perin said.

"We can treat heart failure differently," he said. "We have a new weapon against heart failure and this study really opens the door and leads the way for us to be able to get there."

The new study -- sponsored by Australian biotechnology company Mesoblast -- included 565 heart failure patients with a weakened heart muscle, ages 18 to 80. The patients were screened between 2014 and 2019 and randomly assigned to either receive the cell therapy or a placebo procedure at 51 study sites across North America.

The patients who received the cell therapy were delivered about 150 million stem cells to the heart through a catheter. The cells came from the bone marrow of three healthy young adult donors.

The researchers, from The Texas Heart Institute and other various institutions in the United States, Canada and Australia, then monitored each patient for heart-related events or life-threatening arrhythmias.

Compared with the patients who received a sham procedure, those treated with the stem cell therapy showed a small but statistically significant strengthening of the muscle of the heart's left pumping chamber within a year.

The researchers also found that the cell therapy decreased the risk of heart attack or stroke by 58 per cent overall.

"This is a long-term effect, lasting an average of 30 months. So that's why we're so excited about it," Perin said.

Among patients with high inflammation in their bodies, the combined reduced risk of heart attack or stroke was even greater, at 75 per cent, the researchers found.

"These cells directly address inflammation," Perin said.

"They have little receptors for these inflammatory substances -- some of them are called interleukins, and there's other kinds," he said. "When you put them into an inflamed heart, it activates the cells and the cells go, 'Wow, we need to respond. This house is on fire. We need to put out the fire.' And so they then secrete various anti-inflammatories."

The researchers wrote in their study that their findings should be considered as "hypothesis generating," in that they show this cell therapy concept could work, but clinical trials would be needed to specifically confirm the effects of these stem cells on heart attack, stroke and other events. It is still unclear for how long the effects of the stem cell therapy last beyond 30 months and whether patients will need more stem cell injections in the future.

Overall, there were no major differences between the adverse events reported among the patients who received the cell therapy compared with those in the control group, and the researchers reported no major safety concerns.

"We've made an enormous step to be able to harness the real power of adult stem cells to treating the heart," Perin said. "This trial really is a signal of a new era."

For more than a decade, scientists have been studying potential stem cell therapies for heart failure patients -- but more research is needed to determine whether this treatment approach could reduce the amount of hospitalizations, urgent care events or complications among patients with heart failure.

The new study didn't find that, said cardiologist Dr. Nieca Goldberg, medical director of Atria New York City and clinical associate professor of medicine at NYU Grossman School of Medicine, who was not involved in the latest study.

What the new study did find is that "there may be a population of people that could benefit from the stem cell therapy, particularly people who have inflammation," Goldberg said.

"It's actually an interesting therapy, an interesting thing to consider, once more research substantiates its benefit. Because in heart failure, there's multiple things going on and, particularly for the inflammatory component, this could be an interesting treatment," she said. "It might have some role in heart failure patients with inflammation."

The therapy's effects on heart attack or stroke risks "were positive," Dr. Brett Victor, a cardiologist at the Cardiology Consultants of Philadelphia, who was not involved in the study, said in an email.

"Specifically, patients who received the stem cell therapy were less likely to have a heart attack or stroke over the next 2.5 years, especially among those who were found to have a high degree of systemic inflammation as measured by a laboratory test," Victor said in the email, adding that this represents how heart failure has a significant inflammatory component.

Those "positive signals" likely will be evaluated more in subsequent studies, Victor said.

"Current therapies for heart failure including lifestyle modifications, a growing list of excellent medications, and device therapies will continue to be the standard of care for treatment in the near-term," he said. "I suspect that this trial will continue to move the field forward in studying cardiac cell therapy as we continue to look for ways to not just treat, but actually find a cure for this disease."

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Stem cell therapy may reduce risk of heart attack and stroke in ... - CTV News

How to awaken neural stem cells and reactivate them? – Tech Explorist

Cellular metabolism is essential for adult neural stem/progenitor cell (NSPC) behavior. These cells can be reactivated to form new neurons. However, its role in the transition from quiescence to proliferation has yet to be fully understood.

A team led by scientists from the Universities of Geneva (UNIGE) and Lausanne (UNIL) has discovered the importance of cell metabolism in this process and identified how to wake up these neural stem cells and reactivate them. They successfully increased the number of new neurons in the brain of adult and even elderly mice.

The brain is constructed during embryonic development by neural stem cells (NSCs), which produce all other central nervous system cells, including neurons. Interestingly, NSCs keep growing and can produce new neurons in specific brain regions even after the brain has fully developed. Adult neurogenesis is a biological process crucial for particular tasks, including memory and learning.

However, in the adult brain, these stem cells become more silent or dormant and reduce their capacity for renewal and differentiation. As a result, neurogenesis decreases significantly with age.

Scientists uncovered a metabolic mechanism by which adult NSCs can emerge from their dormant state and become active.

Francesco Petrelli, a research fellow at UNIL and co-first author of the study with Valentina Scandella, said,We found that mitochondria, the energy-producing organelles within cells, regulate the level of activation of adult NSCs.

A crucial component in this control is played by the mitochondrial pyruvate transporter (MPC), a protein complex first identified by Professor Martinous team eleven years ago. Its activity affects the available metabolic possibilities for a cell. Scientists can awaken dormant cells by altering their mitochondrial metabolism by understanding the metabolic mechanisms that separate active cells from dormant cells.

By utilizing chemical inhibitors or creating mutant mice for the Mpc1 gene, biologists have been able to block MPC activity. The scientists stimulated dormant NSCs and subsequently generated new neurons in the brains of adult and even old mice by using pharmacological and genetic approaches.

Professor Knobloch, co-lead author of the study, said,With this work, we show that redirection of metabolic pathways can directly influence the activity state of adult NSCs and consequently the number of new neurons generated.

Jean-Claude Martinou, co-lead author of the study, said,These results shed new light on the role of cell metabolism in regulating neurogenesis. In the long term, these results could lead to potential treatments for conditions such as depression or neurodegenerative diseases.

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How to awaken neural stem cells and reactivate them? - Tech Explorist

Stem cell therapy: A possible solution to save our coral reefs – The Miami Hurricane

This article was the 2022 first-place winner of the University of Miami Graduate Op-Ed Challenge.

Imagine your next snorkeling vacation at a barren underwater desert. The vibrant corals and bright flashes of darting fish reduced to nothing but a bleak wasteland.This reality is around the corner.

Weve been seeing a decline in coral reef health for decades. Scientists have undeniably proven that greenhouse gas emissions are responsible for the global increase in temperature and ocean acidification, the top contributors to coral decline. Yet, political and economic restraints prevent the reversal of greenhouse gas emissions at a sufficient rate.

So how can we buy corals the time they need until such drastic changes can be met? The answer might be in human medicine.

Patients diagnosed with leukemia or Non-Hodgkins lymphoma are often faced with intense, harmful treatments of chemotherapy or radiation. This leaves the body with a diminished blood cell supply. Its becoming common to follow these treatments with stem cell therapies to reintroduce healthy stem cells, ultimately providing new blood cells and mitigating unpleasant symptoms. Could the same be done for corals?

Coral gardening is currently the favored practice of coral preservation amongst coral conservationists. Artificial structures, usually made out of PVC pipes or plastic mesh, are built to provide a nursery. On these nurseries, small coral fragments are cultivated by conservationists and volunteers until they reach an optimal size. At this point they are outplanted on the reef using a marine epoxy, or glue. While efforts can focus on corals that are more tolerant of higher temperatures, this technique requires endless hours of manpower, reduces the diversity of corals on the reef and is time-consuming due to corals slow-growing nature. While this method has undoubtedly provided relief for many reefs, it is not sustainable enough for the future of corals.

Optimal solutions would be able to prevent the declining health of adult corals already present on the reef. To this end, genome editing and probiotic treatments are examples of solutions under consideration. These methods hold water and should be further explored, but they present their own issues.

As in human cancer patients, stem cell therapy may be the ideal solution. Transplanting stem cells from a resilient coral to one more susceptible, would preserve adult corals already existing on the reef, maintain the genetic diversity, require less maintenance by conservationists and volunteers and maintain the reef structure which is so necessary for the entire ecosystem. So why havent we tried stem cell therapy on corals?

The problem is simple: we dont know if corals have stem cells. Closely related animals (think anemones and jellyfish) have been shown to possess these regenerative cells, suggesting corals might, too.

Testing this is no simple task, unfortunately. A common method of identifying stem cells in other animals is to use a fluorescent tag for common stem cell-associated markers, similar to how we detect antibodies. However, corals possess a wide range of natural fluorescent proteins, making it impossible to distinguish the stem cell markers. To overcome this, researchers at the University of Miami have identified a population of cells that exhibit many characteristics of stem cells across the animal kingdom. These small, structurally simple and rare cells show a gene expression signature similar to an unspecialized cell, which provides convincing evidence that these are indeed stem cells.

With this kernel of hope, the next stage of this research is addressing the logistics: How do we transplant stem cells, and which corals should act as the donors? Corals are essentially animals in rock-form, making classic needle-based injections a challenging mode of transplantation.

One avenue to explore is the application of short-term hydrogels. Commonly used as wound dressings in humans, hydrogels are an ideal substance for donor cell transfers, and act as a physical barrier against physical damage and infection.

The second factor to consider is which corals should serve as the donors. Just as our blood type determines from whom we can receive blood transfusions, there may be genetic compatibility factors that will need to be considered on top of resiliency to heat and other stressors. However, considering that many coral species are capable of growing and fusing together, the probability of successful transplantations seems high.

Despite the hurdles, this research should proceed. We are way past the luxury of questioning if human intervention is necessary or acceptable. According to greenhouse gas emission and temperature predictions by the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, corals will face annual mass bleaching and mortality events by 2050. The current methods of coral conservation are simply not enough, and we need to be more effective in our efforts if we are going to save the coral reefs we rely upon and love. Stem cell therapy could be the answer.

Grace Snyder is a graduate student at the University of Miami Rosenstiel School of Marine, Atmospheric, and Earth Science, studying the capability of coral stem cell transplantations.

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Stem cell therapy: A possible solution to save our coral reefs - The Miami Hurricane

BioRestorative Therapies Receives Notice of Allowance by the … – BioSpace

--Notice of allowance will be the third US patent to issue from this ThermoStem family targeting obesity and metabolic disorders, including type 2 diabetes--

MELVILLE, N.Y., March 02, 2023 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- BioRestorative Therapies, Inc. (BioRestorative, BRTX or the Company) (NASDAQ:BRTX), a clinical stage company focused on stem cell-based therapies, today announced that the United States Patent and Trademark Office has issued a notice of allowance for a patent application related to the Companys metabolic ThermoStem program. The notice of allowance was issued on February 24, 2023.

This will be the third patent granted under this particular family of intellectual property, claims granted under the new patent cover implantable three-dimensional scaffolds and brown adipocytes that have been derived from human brown adipose-derived stem cells. Therapeutic benefits of using brown adipose have been demonstrated in various models and may provide a valuable therapeutic tool for treating a range of metabolic disorders. In addition, BioRestorative is evaluating the use of this technology to target indications outside of metabolic disorders.

This is the second notice of allowance we have received regarding our ThermoStem program within 2023. This notice of allowance is very meaningful as it provides the Company with further protection and strengthens our technology as we develop and expand into the clinic. Additionally, it enhances our ability to engage with the strategic community on collaborative and partnering opportunities said Lance Alstodt, the Companys CEO.

About BioRestorative Therapies, Inc.

BioRestorative Therapies, Inc. (www.biorestorative.com) develops therapeutic products using cell and tissue protocols, primarily involving adult stem cells. Our two core programs, as described below, relate to the treatment of disc/spine disease and metabolic disorders:

Disc/Spine Program (brtxDISC): Our lead cell therapy candidate,BRTX-100,is a product formulated from autologous (or a persons own) cultured mesenchymal stem cells collected from the patients bone marrow. We intend that the product will be used for the non-surgical treatment of painful lumbosacral disc disorders or as a complementary therapeutic to a surgical procedure. TheBRTX-100production process utilizes proprietary technology and involves collecting a patients bone marrow, isolating and culturing stem cells from the bone marrow and cryopreserving the cells. In an outpatient procedure,BRTX-100is to be injected by a physician into the patients damaged disc. The treatment is intended for patients whose pain has not been alleviated by non-invasive procedures and who potentially face the prospect of surgery. We have commenced a Phase 2 clinical trial usingBRTX-100to treat chronic lower back pain arising from degenerative disc disease.

Metabolic Program (ThermoStem): We are developing a cell-based therapy candidate to target obesity and metabolic disorders using brown adipose (fat) derived stem cells to generate brown adipose tissue (BAT). BAT is intended to mimic naturally occurring brown adipose depots that regulate metabolic homeostasis in humans. Initial preclinical research indicates that increased amounts of brown fat in animals may be responsible for additional caloric burning as well as reduced glucose and lipid levels. Researchers have found that people with higher levels of brown fat may have a reduced risk for obesity and diabetes.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release contains "forward-looking statements" within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934, as amended, and such forward-looking statements are made pursuant to the safe harbor provisions of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. You are cautioned that such statements are subject to a multitude of risks and uncertainties that could cause future circumstances, events or results to differ materially from those projected in the forward-looking statements as a result of various factors and other risks, including, without limitation, those set forth in the Company's latest Form 10-K filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission. You should consider these factors in evaluating the forward-looking statements included herein, and not place undue reliance on such statements. The forward-looking statements in this release are made as of the date hereof and the Company undertakes no obligation to update such statements.

CONTACT:Email:ir@biorestorative.com

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BioRestorative Therapies Receives Notice of Allowance by the ... - BioSpace

What are ‘minibrains’? Everything to know about brain organoids – Livescience.com

In the past decade, lab-grown blobs of human brain tissue began making news headlines, as they ushered in a new era of scientific discovery and raised a slew of ethical questions.

These blobs scientifically known as brain organoids, but often called "minibrains" in the news serve as miniature, simplified models of full-size human brains. These organoids can potentially be useful in basic research, drug development and even computer science.

However, as scientists make these models more sophisticated, there's a question as to whether they could ever become too similar to human brains and thus gain consciousness, in some form or another.

Scientists grow brain organoids from stem cells, a type of immature cell that can give rise to any cell type, whether blood, skin, bowel or brain.

The stem cells used to grow organoids can either come from adult human cells, or more rarely, human embryonic tissue, according to a 2021 review in the Journal of Biomedical Science (opens in new tab). In the former case, scientists collect adult cells and then expose them to chemicals in order to revert them into a stem cell-like state. The resulting stem cells are called "induced pluripotent stem cells" (iPSC), which can be made to grow into any kind of tissue.

To give rise to a minibrain, scientists embed these stem cells in a protein-rich matrix, a substance that supports the cells as they divide and form a 3D shape. Alternatively, the cells may be grown atop a physical, 3D scaffold, according to a 2020 review in the journal Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology (opens in new tab).

To coax the stem cells to form different tissues, scientists introduce specific molecules and growth factors substances that spur cell growth and replication into the cell culture system at precise points in their development. In addition, scientists often place the stem cells in spinning bioreactors as they grow into minibrains. These devices keep the growing organoids suspended, rather than smooshed against a flat surface; this helps the organoids absorb nutrients and oxygen from the well-stirred solution surrounding them.

Brain organoids grow more complex as they develop, similar to how human embryos grow more and more complex in the womb. Over time, the organoids come to contain multiple kinds of cells found in full-size human brains; mimic specific functions of human brain tissue; and show similar spatial organization to isolated regions of the brain, though both their structure and function are simpler than that of a real human brain, according to the Journal of Biomedical Science review.

Minibrains can be used in a variety of applications. For example, scientists are using the blobs of tissue to study early human development.

To this end, scientists have grown brain organoids with a set of eye-like structures called "optic cups;" in human embryos in the womb, the optic cup eventually gives rise to the light-sensitive retina at the back of the eye. Another group grew organoids that generate brain waves similar to those seen in preterm babies, and another used minibrains to help explain why a common drug can cause birth defects and developmental disorders if taken during pregnancy. Models like these allow researchers to glimpse the brain as it appears in early pregnancy, a feat that would be both difficult and unethical in humans.

Minibrains can also be used to model conditions that affect adults, including infectious diseases that affect the brain, brain tumors and neurodegenerative disorders like Alzheimer's and Parkinson's disease, according to the Frontiers in Cell and Developmental Biology review. In addition, some groups are developing minibrains for drug screening, to see if a given medication could be toxic to human patients' brains, according to a 2021 review in the journal Frontiers in Genetics (opens in new tab).

Such models could complement or eventually replace research conducted with cells in lab dishes and in animals; even studies in primates, whose brains closely resemble humans', can't reliably capture exactly what happens in human disease. For now, though, experts agree that brain organoids are not advanced enough to partially or fully replace established cell and animal models of disease. But someday, scientists hope these models will lead to the development of new drugs and reduce the need for animal research; some researchers are even testing whether it could be feasible to repair the brain by "plugging" injuries with lab-grown human minibrains.

Related: FDA no longer requires animal testing for new drugs. Is that safe?

Beyond medicine and the study of human development, minibrains can also be used to study human evolution. Recently, scientists used brain organoids to study which genes allowed the human brain to grow so large, and others have used organoids to study how human brains differ from those of apes and Neanderthals.

Finally, some scientists want to use brain organoids to power computer systems. In an early test of this technology, one group recently crafted a minibrain out of human and mouse brain cells that successfully played "Pong" after being hooked up to a computer-controlled electrode array.

And in a recent proposal published in the journal Frontiers in Science (opens in new tab), scientists announced their plans to grow large brain organoids, containing tens of thousands to millions of cells, and link them together to create complex networks that can serve as the basis for future biocomputers.

Although sometimes called "minibrains," brain organoids aren't truly miniaturized human brains. Rather, they are roughly spherical balls of brain tissue that mimic some features of the full-size human brain. For example, cerebral organoids, which contain cell types found in the cerebral cortex, the wrinkled outer surface of the brain, contain several layers of tissue, as a real cortex would.

Similarly, brain organoids can generate chemical messages and brain waves similar to what's seen in a full-size brain, but that doesn't mean they can "think," (opens in new tab) experts say. That said, one sticking point in this discussion is the fact that neuroscientists don't have an agreed-upon definition of consciousness, nor do they have standardized ways to measure the phenomenon, Nature reported (opens in new tab) in 2020.

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine assembled a committee to tackle these quandaries and released a report in 2021 (opens in new tab), outlining some of the potential ethical issues of working with brain organoids.

At the time, the authors concluded that (opens in new tab) "In the foreseeable future, it is extremely unlikely that [brain organoids] would possess capabilities that, given current understanding, would be recognized as awareness, consciousness, emotion, or the experience of pain. From a moral perspective, neural organoids do not differ at present from other in vitro human neural tissues or cultures. However, as scientists develop significantly more complex organoids, the possible need to make this distinction should be revisited regularly."

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What are 'minibrains'? Everything to know about brain organoids - Livescience.com

NSW Government backs University-led consortium on drug discovery – University of Sydney

Professor Michael Kassiou will lead the NSW Organoid Innovation Centre.

The University of Sydney will lead the establishment of the NSW Organoid Innovation Centre, a new multi-institution facility that will apply the latest stem-cell techniques to accelerate drug discovery and design.

Funding of $2.5 million for the centre was delivered by the NSW Government through the Emerging Industry Infrastructure Fund. The University of Sydney will invest an additional $1.3 million in the centre, which is a collaboration with the University of NSW and the Childrens Medical Research Institute at Westmead.

The academic lead for the centre is Professor Michael Kassiou from the School of Chemistry and the Drug Discovery Initiative at the University of Sydney.

The NSW Organoid Innovation Centre will turbocharge the biomedical ecosystem in NSW and establish a world-class stem-cell research and drug discovery hub for Australia, he said.

Sometimes referred to as mini organs in a dish, organoids are self-organising clusters of multiple cell types derived from human stem cells. The cells can be taken from a patients body to create clinically relevant organic testing sites in the lab.

We can run our database of existing drug types against the organoid cells in the laboratory. This gives us a much better chance of success in drug discovery, bypassing several steps in traditional drug design, Professor Kassiou said.

Conventional drug discovery often uses animal surrogates for testing. However, animal surrogates are not always reliable models for how drugs work in humans.

Professor Kassiou said: Organoid technology bridges the gap between initial discovery and testing directly in humans, with potential to rapidly accelerate relevant drugs to treat disease.

This new approach is all about targeting processes that are clinically relevant to the disease you are interested in, he said.

The University of Sydney is investing in robotic facilities for the centre to develop precision drug-screening platforms that rapidly and automatically handle the stem-cell organoids.

The NSWOIC node at UNSW will be led by Dr Shafagh Waters and the CMRI node at Westmead will be led by Dr Anai Gonzalez Cordero. These two nodes will focus on producing the stem cells and organoids needed by the centre.

Dr Waters said: At UNSW, we're proud to join forces with the University of Sydney and CMRI. With our advanced techniques for upscale production of clinically relevant, quality-assured adult stem-cell-derived organoids, we're opening new possibilities for targeted therapies and personalised medicine.

Dr Gonzalez Cordero said: Were grateful to the NSW Government for its vision and foresight. Without this investment we wouldnt be able to develop and test new therapies for patients living with genetic disease who presently have few or no options for a treatment or cure.

University of Sydney staff working with Professor Kassiou at the new centre include:

Professor Glenda Halliday, Professor Wojciech Chrzanowski and Professor Gemma Figtree, from the Faculty of Medicine and Health; and Professor Greg Neely from the Faculty of Science.

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NSW Government backs University-led consortium on drug discovery - University of Sydney

Europe Stem Cell Manufacturing Market Revenue to reach USD 23,505.08 million by 2028 – openPR

Europe Stem Cell Manufacturing Market

Europe Stem Cell Manufacturing Market research report provides data and information about the scenario of Medical Devices industry which makes it easy to be ahead of the competition in today's speedily changing business environment. This market report has been structured by applying the best and standard analytical methods which are SWOT analysis and Porter's Five Forces analysis that analyse and evaluate all the primary and secondary research data and information in this report. What is more, the credible Europe Stem Cell Manufacturing Market report intensely analyses the potential of the market with respect to existing scenario and the future prospects by considering all industry aspects of Medical Devices industry.

Stem cells are body's raw material which can differentiate into variety of cells. It means cells from which all other cells with specialized functions are generated. Stem Cell therapies are defined as treatment for medical condition which involves the use of any type of human stem cells including embryonic stem cells, adult stem cells for allogenic and autologous therapies.

This stem cell manufacturing market report provides details of new recent developments, trade regulations, import-export analysis, production analysis, value chain optimization, market share, impact of domestic and localized market players, analyses opportunities in terms of emerging revenue pockets, changes in market regulations, strategic market growth analysis, market size, category market growths, application niches and dominance, product approvals, product launches, geographic expansions, technological innovations in the market. To gain more info on the stem cell manufacturing market contact Data Bridge Market Research for an Analyst Brief, our team will help you take an informed market decision to achieve market growth.

The stem cell manufacturing market is segmented on the basis of products, application, end user and distribution channel.On the basis of products, stem cell manufacturing market is segmented into stem cell lines, instruments, consumables & kits. On the basis of application, cell manufacturing market is segmented into research applications, clinical applications, cell and tissue banking and others. On the basis of end user, stem cell manufacturing market is segmented into biotechnology & pharmaceutical companies, research institutes and academic institutes, cell banks and tissue banks, hospital & surgical centers and others. On the basis of distribution channel, stem cell manufacturing market is segmented into direct sales and third party distributors.

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Europe Stem Cell Manufacturing Market Revenue to reach USD 23,505.08 million by 2028 - openPR