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posted by janrinok on Wednesday August 18 2021, @04:41PM   Printer-friendly

Scientists Grew Stem Cell 'Mini Brains'. Then, The Brains Sort-of Developed Eyes:

Mini brains grown in a lab from stem cells have spontaneously developed rudimentary eye structures, scientists report in a fascinating new paper.

On tiny, human-derived brain organoids grown in dishes, two bilaterally symmetrical optic cups were seen to grow, mirroring the development of eye structures in human embryos. This incredible result will help us to better understand the process of eye differentiation and development, as well as eye diseases.

"Our work highlights the remarkable ability of brain organoids to generate primitive sensory structures that are light sensitive and harbor cell types similar to those found in the body," said neuroscientist Jay Gopalakrishnan of University Hospital Düsseldorf in Germany.

"These organoids can help to study brain-eye interactions during embryo development, model congenital retinal disorders, and generate patient-specific retinal cell types for personalized drug testing and transplantation therapies."

Brain organoids are not true brains, as you might be thinking of them. They are small, three-dimensional structures grown from induced pluripotent stem cells - cells harvested from adult humans and reverse engineered into stem cells, that have the potential to grow into many different types of tissue.

Journal Reference:

Elke Gabriel, Walid Albanna, Giovanni Pasquini, Anand Ramani, Natasa Josipovic, Aruljothi Mariappan, Friedrich Schinzel, Celeste M. Karch, Guobin Bao, Marco Gottardo, Ata Alp Suren, Jürgen Hescheler, Kerstin Nagel-Wolfrum, Veronica Persico, Silvio O. Rizzoli, Janine Altmüller, Maria Giovanna Riparbelli, Giuliano Callaini, Olivier Goureau, Argyris Papantonis, Volker Busskamp, Toni Schneider, Jay Gopalakrishnan. Human brain organoids assemble functionally integrated bilateral optic vesicles. Cell Stem Cell, 2021; DOI: 10.1016/j.stem.2021.07.010


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  • (Score: 1, Disagree) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:07PM (13 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:07PM (#1168218)

    How does anybody working on anything remotely like this think it is okay? Burn the lab down with torches and pitchforks!

    </not-sarcasm>

    • (Score: 3, Insightful) by Tork on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:12PM

      by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:12PM (#1168220)
      .. umm... why?
      --
      🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
    • (Score: 5, Funny) by BsAtHome on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:30PM (6 children)

      by BsAtHome (889) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:30PM (#1168226)

      At least they are engaged in research that is watching the researchers.

      [I'll get my coat...]

      • (Score: 4, Funny) by Tork on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:40PM (3 children)

        by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 18 2021, @05:40PM (#1168227)
        If you can't find it I'll keep an eye out.
        --
        🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
        • (Score: 3, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:21PM (2 children)

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:21PM (#1168237)

          It sees what you did there.

          • (Score: 2, Offtopic) by Tork on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:57PM (1 child)

            by Tork (3914) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:57PM (#1168248)
            I tried to make that joke accessible to people of all walks of life, everyone on the spectrum!
            --
            🏳️‍🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️‍🌈
            • (Score: 2) by MIRV888 on Wednesday August 18 2021, @11:27PM

              by MIRV888 (11376) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @11:27PM (#1168356)

              I bet those scientists are Rockwell fans.

      • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:23PM (1 child)

        by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:23PM (#1168261)

        Sure it's watching them for now, from a petri dish. But how long will that last [youtu.be]?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:45PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:45PM (#1168301)

          Ouch - it's moments like this that make me realize I'm here socializing with teenagers. And I like it ;)

    • (Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:11PM (3 children)

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:11PM (#1168234)

      Friend, it's coming. You can't stop it! The return of Christ Singularity whatever the fuck you're scared of. It's coming.

      • (Score: 4, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:01AM (2 children)

        by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:01AM (#1168363)

        whatever the fuck you're scared of. It's coming.

        Trump 2024?

        • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @05:25AM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @05:25AM (#1168440)

          That's covered under "return of Christ".

        • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @03:17PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @03:17PM (#1168528)

          Trump would be an improvement now. Could we put the great wizard ruler of the US in one of these petri dishes to see if he has a brain?

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:16PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:16PM (#1168235)
  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:30PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:30PM (#1168238)

    Let's press the button and see where this rocket ship goes. You mean, you thought the white picket fence and perfectly trimmed lawn was IT?!

  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by EEMac on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:41PM (7 children)

    by EEMac (6423) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @06:41PM (#1168243)

    If this leads to a way to grow replacement eyes, it will *greatly* improve many people's lives.

    • (Score: 5, Insightful) by oumuamua on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:02PM (3 children)

      by oumuamua (8401) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:02PM (#1168250)

      Sure but replacement brains will be much more useful for society as a whole

      • (Score: 5, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:14PM (1 child)

        by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:14PM (#1168255)

        The GOP vehemently opposes this plan!

        • (Score: 3, Funny) by deimtee on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:39AM

          by deimtee (3272) on Thursday August 19 2021, @12:39AM (#1168370) Journal

          I think they are in two minds about it really.

          --
          If you cough while drinking cheap red wine it really cleans out your sinuses.
      • (Score: 2) by TrentDavey on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:19PM

        by TrentDavey (1526) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:19PM (#1168258)

        Provided there's a way to remove all the bloatware they'll come pre-installed with.

    • (Score: 2) by krishnoid on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:16PM (1 child)

      by krishnoid (1156) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @07:16PM (#1168256)

      And stronger teeth [youtu.be] too! (yes, that is the voice actor for Archer) Throw in an octopus which already has a powerful brain, and what could go wrong [wizards.com]?

      • (Score: 2) by Gaaark on Wednesday August 18 2021, @10:43PM

        by Gaaark (41) on Wednesday August 18 2021, @10:43PM (#1168348) Journal

        and the voice actor/actress for Lana! Sweet, sweet Lana.

        --
        --- Please remind me if I haven't been civil to you: I'm channeling MDC. ---Gaaark 2.0 ---
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:14PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:14PM (#1168280)

      > it will *greatly* improve many people's sight

      FTFY

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:47PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday August 18 2021, @08:47PM (#1168302)

    Soon this will be combined with Boston Dynamics robots, and we'll have humanoid Cylons running about the place.

    And recently Apple showed why you don't let your phone be networked with their iCloud snooper service.

    Battlestar Galactica was right -- this has all happened before, and it's all happening again. I'm going to panic now and avoid the rush.

  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:54PM (1 child)

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday August 19 2021, @01:54PM (#1168496)

    this research has so much potential for the field of Governance!

    Think of the ruling class and intelligence agencies personnel!

    If they can be implanted with these things, then they would actually have working human neurons in their heads and maybe then some will start thinking with them :D

    • (Score: 2) by Joe Desertrat on Thursday August 19 2021, @08:34PM

      by Joe Desertrat (2454) on Thursday August 19 2021, @08:34PM (#1168622)

      If they can be implanted with these things, then they would actually have working human neurons in their heads and maybe then some will start thinking with them :D

      Sounds great until Microsoft bribes their way into being the default providers of these brains.

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