Medical Discovery News
Science permeates everyday life. Yet the understanding of advances in biomedical science is limited at best. Few people make the connection that biomedical science is medicine and that biomedical scientists are working today for the medicine of tomorrow. Our weekly five-hundred-word newspaper column (http://www.illuminascicom.com/) and two-minute radio show provide insights into a broad range of biomedical science topics. Medical Discovery News is dedicated to explaining discoveries in biomedical research and their promise for the future of medicine. Each release is designed to stimulate listeners to think, question and appreciate how science affects their health as well as that of the rest of the world. We also delve into significant biomedical discoveries and portray how science (or the lack of it) has impacted health throughout history.
Medical Discovery News
3D Printing a Brain
920 3D Printing a Brain
Welcome to Medical Discovery News. I’m Dr. Norbert Herzog.
And I’m I’m Dr David Niesel
The brain is perhaps our most mysterious and complex organ. Its structure is unique and its chemical composition is much different from our other organs.
One tool being refined in helping us understand the brain is growing tiny brains called organoids. Stem cells are coaxed into forming these pea-sized structures that then allow us to study it.
There are major drawbacks to this approach. These lab-grown brain cells have a simplistic arrangement and don’t mirror a real brain with complex neural communication networks.
Researchers have come up with a workaround through using a three-D bio-printer. This way, they can select the types of brain cells and their arrangement, creating a distribution that’s a step closer to resembling a real brain.
The human brain needs different cells to interact and signal each other so that correct messages are shared across the brain and eventually with the rest of the body.
This study coaxed immature nerve and support cells into maturity and then held them in place with a gooey chemical called hydrogel. It provides a firm scaffolding that’s flexible enough for movement and normal cell function.
Their study showed the 3D-printed brain tissues could signal normally. When they tested the printed tissue by inserting mutated brain cells that cause neurological disease, they showed abnormal connections between the printed cells.
Since this is what they’d find in real human brains, it further shows this 3D printing could one day allow scientists to peer into the brain’s inner workings.
We are Drs. David Niesel and Norbert Herzog, at UTMB and Quinnipiac University, where biomedical discoveries shape the future of medicine. For much more and our disclaimer go to medicaldiscoverynews.com or subscribe to our podcast. Sign up for expanded print episodes at www.illuminascicom.com
