brain organoids Archives

Stem cell research ethics topics: organoid consciousness & embryo models

February 28, 2023 February 28, 2023 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

Someday could human brain organoids get to the point of having organized human-like thoughts? Even consciousness? The more time passes, the less likely I think this is. It’s not impossible, but brain organoids have big limitations in that regard. To be clear, I don’t mean brain organoids having some vaguely human brain-like electrical activity. Even monolayers of …

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A look at “eyes on the brain organoids” Cell Stem Cell paper

August 17, 2021 August 17, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 2 Comments

Sometimes a paper really catches your eye like a new Cell Stem Cell pub reporting eye-like structures grown on brain organoids. The paper is Human brain organoids assemble functionally integrated bilateral optic vesicles. Let’s take a quick look at this paper, its context, and the potential big-picture implications. Brain organoids with “eyes”? At first glance, …

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Regenerative reads: brain organoids, Clinicaltrials.gov change

February 28, 2021 February 28, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 1 Comment

Sometimes change takes a very long time, but with brain organoids or advocating for better information for patients at Clinicaltrials.gov, after waiting you can see some interesting developments. These are two of the regenerative medicine stories of the week, along with some striking research papers. Clinicaltrials.gov Some of us have been advocating for improvements at …

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Dissecting that Neanderthal brain organoids Science pub

February 15, 2021 February 15, 2021 / By Professor Paul Knoepfler, Ph.D. / 4 Comments

Organoids and especially brain organoids, which are made from pluripotent stem cells, are one of the most interesting developmental biology technologies of the last half a dozen or so years. Still some folks can’t help but get carried away when thinking about brain organoids it seems. A new Science paper from a team led by …

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