BioCentury
ARTICLE | Translation in Brief

Folded brain

Brain organoids with surface folding could model neurodevelopmental disorders and diseases

February 23, 2017 7:49 PM UTC

As organoids become increasingly sophisticated tools for preclinical research, a team led by mouse genetics guru Rudolf Jaenisch has developed an organoid model of the cerebrum containing surface folding that recapitulates the brain structure in development. The model could provide drug developers with a system for testing therapies for neurodevelopmental disorders and diseases that affect the brain.

Jaenisch, a professor of biology at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and founding member of the Whitehead Institute for Biomedical Research, pioneered transgenic mice in the 1970s and is a leader in induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology. Last year, he co-founded Fulcrum Therapeutics Inc. to develop small molecules for modulating gene expression...