Topic: brain organoids

Brain organoids and other non-animal models offer ways to investigate brain development and disease and evaluate candidate therapies. Their wider use depends on addressing variability in organoid generation, reagents, culture conditions and analysis, alongside the demands of complex workflows when increasing experimental throughput. Ali Strtak and Fikri Birey discuss how to improve consistency between organoids and experiments. The session examines reagent and vendor variation, ways to simplify multistep procedures, suitable controls and analytical methods, and emerging culture, automation an

Develop theory for neuronal and metabolic activity in brain organoids, including sleep–wake behaviour, in the J. M. Schwarz Theory Group. Research connects physical learning and multiscale mechanics with experimental observations, collaborating with Orly Reiner and Yaakov Nahmias. The role includes student mentoring and an on-campus research presence. The initial appointment is one year with a possible second year. The employer lists the position as open until filled; the earlier priority-review date has passed.

This Nature Podcast episode examines human brain organoids transplanted into mice lacking a cerebral cortex, where extensive cellular integration could create an in-vivo platform for testing therapies and studying human neurobiology. It also covers research highlights and Paper2Agent, an AI system that turns research papers into interactive virtual corresponding authors able to answer questions and support complex scientific tasks.

Nature staff discuss how a newly approved orexin-targeting narcolepsy drug could enable therapies for other neurological conditions, and examine human brain organoids that have remained viable for more than five years. The episode connects sleep medicine, therapeutic neuroscience, and long-term models of human brain development.

Neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs) impose a global burden, affecting an increasing number of individuals. While some causative genes have been identified, understanding the human-specific mechanisms involved in these disorders remains limited. Traditional gene-driven approaches for modeling brain diseases have failed to capture the diverse and convergent mechanisms at play. Centrosomes and cilia act as intermediaries between environmental and intrinsic signals, regulating cellular behavior. Mutations or dosage variations disrupting their function have been linked to brain formation deficits,

Reprogramming somatic cells to a pluripotent state via the induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) method offers an increasingly utilized approach for neurological disease modeling with patient-derived cells. Several groups, including ours, have applied the iPSC approach to model severe genetic developmental and epileptic encephalopathies (DEEs) with patient-derived cells. Although most studies to date involve 2-D cultures of patient-derived neurons, brain organoids are increasingly being employed to explore genetic DEE mechanisms. We are applying this approach to understand PMSE (Polyhydramnios,

Malformations of the human cerebral cortex represent a major cause of developmental disabilities. To date, animal models carrying mutations of genes so far identified in human patients with brain malformations only partially recapitulate the expected phenotypes and therefore do not provide reliable models to entirely understand the molecular and cellular mechanisms responsible for these disorders. Hence, we combine the in vivo mouse model and the human brain organoids in order to better comprehend the mechanisms involved in the migration of neurons during human development and tackle the cause