Drop the mice. Researchers have recreated human brain cells for use in Alzheimer’s research. A significant breakthrough toward the ultimate goal.
According to Gina Kolata in The New York Times:
“For the first time, and to the astonishment of many of their colleagues, researchers created what they call Alzheimer’s in a Dish — a petri dish with human brain cells that develop the telltale structures of Alzheimer’s disease.
“In doing so, they resolved a longstanding problem of how to study Alzheimer’s and search for drugs to treat it; the best they had until now were mice that developed an imperfect form of the disease.”
Kolata cited Boston neuroscientists: lead researcher, Rudolph E. Tanzi of Massachusetts General Hospital and his colleague Doo Yeon Kim, who came up with the suggestion to grow human brain cells in a gel, where they formed networks as in an actual brain.
The breakthrough means researchers will be able to, more cheaply and quickly, test treatments.
To read the story in its entirety, go to The New York Times here.
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