Belgian team to build patient-derived chips to model neuronal circuits in Parkinson's

Fueled by a $1.05 million award from the Chan Zuckerberg Initiative, a Belgian team plans to build patient-derived 2-D chips to model human neuronal microcircuits in Parkinson's disease. The chips would help stratify patient subgroups and screen new therapies.

Such models would allow researchers studying neurons lost during neurodegeneration to move beyond animal models, a "proxy" of what happens in the human brain, according to project lead Patrik Verstreken. Verstreken is a science director and group leader at Flanders Institute for Biotechnology (VIB)...