A group from Ohio State University have cultured a brain the size of a pencil eraser with the use of human skin tissue, hoping that it will be a great tool in studies on neurological diseases. The small scale cerebrum is at the same phase of a five-week-old embryo, is not completely conscious, and does not transmit any feelings or sentiments.
Rene Anand of Ohio State University says the group has figured out how to reproduce 99 percent of a genuine brain's cell types and genes, 9 News reports.
Anand claims to have created the brain by altering adult skin cells into pluripotent cells: stem cells that can be programmed to become any tissue in the body. These were then grown in a specialized environment that pushed the stem cells to grow into all the various components of the brain and central nervous system, The Guardian reports.
If it gets licensed for commercial lab use, the brain organoid can help speed research on alzheimer's, autism and other brain illnesses.
"The power of this brain model bodes very well for human health because it gives us better and more relevant options to test and develop therapeutics other than rodents," Anand said, according to Huffington Post.
There have been previous attempts to grow whole brains, but the best achieved was a mini-brain that resembled nine-week old fetus that was never completed and only had certain aspects of the brain.
Right now, the brain is only being used to study post-traumatic stress disorder and traumatic brain injuries.
The study was published on Ohio State University's News Room.
