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posted by mrpg on Saturday April 21 2018, @10:22AM   Printer-friendly
from the lego-brains dept.

Major mental illnesses such as schizophrenia, severe depression and bipolar disorder share a common genetic link. Studies of specific families with a history of these types of illnesses have revealed that affected family members share a mutation in the gene DISC1. While researchers have been able to study how DISC1 mutations alter the brain during development in animal models, it has been difficult to find the right tools to study changes in humans. However, advancements in engineering human stem cells are now allowing researchers to grow mini-organs in labs, and gene-editing tools can be used to insert specific mutations into these cells.

Researchers from Brigham and Women's Hospital are leveraging these new technologies to study the effects of DISC1 mutations in cerebral organoids -- "mini brains" -- cultured from human stem cells. Their results are published in Translational Psychiatry.

"Mini-brains can help us model brain development," said senior author Tracy Young-Pearse, PhD, head of the Young-Pearse Lab in the Ann Romney Center for Neurologic Diseases at BWH. "Compared to traditional methods that have allowed us to investigate human cells in culture in two-dimensions, these cultures let us investigate the three-dimensional structure and function of the cells as they are developing, giving us more information than we would get with a traditional cell culture."


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 21 2018, @05:18PM (3 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Saturday April 21 2018, @05:18PM (#670113)

    "Studies of specific families with a history of these types of illnesses have revealed that affected family members share a mutation in the gene DISC1."

    wake me up when you show everyone with these illnesses has this mutation.

  • (Score: 2) by deimtee on Sunday April 22 2018, @08:45AM

    by deimtee (3272) on Sunday April 22 2018, @08:45AM (#670279) Journal

    wake me up when you show everyone with these illnesses has this mutation.

    That is not likely. Those 'illnesses' are really symptoms and can probably have other causes than the mutation.
    It might be possible to show that everyone with the mutation has [some of] the illnesses.

    --
    If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by MichaelDavidCrawford on Sunday April 22 2018, @02:38PM (1 child)

    by MichaelDavidCrawford (2339) Subscriber Badge <mdcrawford@gmail.com> on Sunday April 22 2018, @02:38PM (#670355) Homepage Journal

    -in.

    To have Schizophrenia as an adult is correllated with having owned outdoor cats as a child. This is thought to be caused by the same catshit parasite as gives pregnant women toxoplasmos, but so far all we have is a correllation.

    For one's mother to have had the flu during one's gestation is also correllated.

    The symptoms of schizophrenia manifest in a great many different ways. This leads the mental health community to believe that it's many different illnesses that have common symptoms.

    --
    Yes I Have No Bananas. [gofundme.com]
    • (Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @06:35PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Sunday April 22 2018, @06:35PM (#670426)

      i would add physical brain trauma and street pcp use to the list of possibilities.