Descrizione del progetto
Nuovi elettrodi morbidi «coltivati» con cellule precursori neurali aiuteranno a studiare lo sviluppo del cervello
Il cervello contiene circa 100 miliardi di neuroni e altrettante cellule gliali. Durante lo sviluppo, queste cellule si organizzano in tessuti strutturalmente e funzionalmente diversi che lavorano insieme per consentire cognizione, movimento, sensazione, emozione e altro ancora. Le capacità della coltura cellulare sono passate da singole colonie cellulari a strutture 3D funzionali che agiscono come sistemi di organi (assembloidi). Oggi, i metodi per studiare e manipolare gli assembloidi devono stare al passo. Il progetto STRELECOID sta pianificando di integrare nuovi elettrodi a maglie estensibili in neurosfere, cluster a forma libera di cellule precursori neurali. Gli elettrodi saranno utilizzati per applicare input sensoriali fisiologici al «cervello» o all’assembloide in via di sviluppo, nonché per monitorare i cambiamenti. In definitiva, i ricercatori sperano di ottenere informazioni su condizioni neuropsichiatriche spesso debilitanti, quali schizofrenia e autismo.
Obiettivo
Recent advances in cellular engineering allow to recruit skin cells from donors and reprogram them into neural stem cells. These induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) bear the genetic code of the human patient. Efforts to culture these cells in-vitro have been successful in creating a wide variety of 3D arrangements called neurospheres. Because the human central nervous system is by and large inaccessible at all developmental stages, these functional tissue preparations are invaluable. Furthermore, clinical studies performed in animal models are known to translate poorly to humans and therefore these systems provide unprecedented advantages: human neurons in a controlled environment that have the genetic signature of psychiatric or mental disorders borne by the donor patient, such as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease. Finally, compared to animal studies where overwhelmingly only male animals are studied, stem cell research can operate on both sexes.
The combination of new biomaterials, genome engineering and massively parallel single-cell transcriptomics opens opportunities to precisely study human brain disease
A new exciting development is the possibility to form so-called assembloids, whereby organoids of different brain regions, as for example cortical and thalamic neural ensembles, are brought in proximity and self-assemble into anatomically correct brain regions. These approaches are necessary to study disorders like epilepsy. However these cultures lack physiological sensory input which are key in the development of mental plasticity. Here we plan to overcome this limitation by integrating new mesh-based electrodes that integrate seamlessly into brain tissue and expand symbiotically with the neurosphere as it grows, and thereby have a spatially refined mean to measure but also elicit neural activity. This will shed light on how electric maturation of these neurospheres comes about and help shape them to an anatomically more faithful brain model.
Campo scientifico
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologyepilepsy
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologydementiaalzheimer
- medical and health sciencesclinical medicinepsychiatry
- medical and health sciencesmedical biotechnologycells technologiesstem cells
- medical and health sciencesbasic medicineneurologyparkinson
Parole chiave
Programma(i)
Argomento(i)
Meccanismo di finanziamento
MSCA-IF - Marie Skłodowska-Curie Individual Fellowships (IF)Coordinatore
52428 Julich
Germania