Source: BBC
By Zaria Gorvett
As she speaks, Madeleine Lancaster rests her hand on her pregnant belly. “Oh they’re about six or seven months along now”. At this point her progeny measure about four millimetres across. She’s growing a few hundred, and each has around two million neurons already.
Watch how the brains are grown
Madelaine Lancaster grows the tiny brains in her lab in this short film
Fortunately, she’s not talking about an enormous brood of unborn babies – though she is expecting one normal human. No, this scientist is referring to a batch of developing human brains.
We’re in the MRC’s brand new molecular biology lab in Cambridge – a sprawling warren of glass-fronted laboratories, space-age equipment and hallways which seem to stretch for miles. It’s not secret or underground, but the £212m building is home to a number of futuristic projects worthy of their own Hollywood movie.
Lancaster’s goal is to turn human skin into functioning brain cells (Credit: Zaria Gorvett)
In her own small corner of this research utopia, Madeleine’s team is at work on a task so absurd it seems more wizardly than scientific: they’re transforming human skin into brains.
“The brains develop in the same way you would see in an embryo,” says Madeleine. This may be true, but their surroundings are rather different. In place of a womb, the disembodied brains are raised in giant incubators. Without a blood supply they are fed with a nutrient-rich fluid which is refreshed every few days. And, of course, they don’t have an immune system: everything – everything – which comes into contact with them must be disinfected first with alcohol.
Just like regular brains, each is composed of specific regions
When she opens the incubator door – well, I have to admit they don’t look as impressive as I’d imagined: insipid, watery blobs floating in a pool of pale pink liquid. They look more like bits of waterlogged popcorn than powerhouses of intellectual ability.
But their looks are deceiving. In fact these “cerebral organoids”, as they have been christened, are strikingly similar to the brains of ordinary people. Just like any other brain, the organoids are divided into grey matter – which is made of neurons – and white matter, a fatty tissue composed of their spindly ‘tails’.
The brains buzz with activity as the neurons fire information to each other (Credit: Zaria Gorvett)
And just like regular brains, each is composed of specific regions. There’s the wrinkled cortex (thought to be the seat of language and conscious thought) the hippocampus (the centre of emotion and memory), the ancient, muscle-coordinating cerebellum, and many, many others. In all, they are equivalent to the brains of nine-week-old foetuses.
Categories: Biology, The Muslim Times