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Dr. Tyler Wenzel of the University of Saskatchewan (USask) has developed an innovative technique to create mini-brains using human blood stem cells, which could revolutionize the diagnosis and treatment of Alzheimer’s disease.
“We never thought our bold idea would actually work. These mini brains made from blood could be used as a diagnostic tool,” Wenzel said.
The concept for these unique mini-brains was developed by Wenzel, a postdoctoral fellow in the School of Medicine’s Department of Psychiatry under the mentorship of Darrell Musso, PhD, who has shown that human stem cells can be manipulated to develop into nearly any type of cell in the human body.
Wenzel created a miniature artificial organ, about 3 millimeters in size and similar to a small piece of chewed gum, using stem cells extracted from human blood that were transformed to function like brain cells.
What’s so unique about these ‘mini brains’ created from human blood?
While using small synthetic organoids for research is not new, the mini-brains developed by Wenzel’s lab are unique. According to a recent article published by Wenzel in Frontiers in Cellular Neuroscience, these mini-brains contain four different types of brain cells, while other brain organoids are usually composed of only neurons.
Tests have shown that Wenzel’s mini-brains more accurately reflect a fully developed adult brain, providing opportunities for further examination of neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s disease.
“If stem cells can become any cell type in the body, we wondered, ‘Can we create something like a whole organ?'” Wenzel explained. “During the development process, I had a crazy idea that if we grew a mini-brain from an Alzheimer’s patient, theoretically, the mini-brain would exhibit Alzheimer’s disease.”
Wenzel is still basking in the overwhelming success of these early mini-brains. “It’s still in disbelief, but it’s so exciting that something like this is actually happening,” Wenzel said. “It feels like something that could really impact society and have the potential to significantly change the medical landscape,” he added.
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