Date:
Thursday, March 28, 2019, 5:00pm to 6:00pm
Location:
Northwest Building, Rm 353, 52 Oxford St, Cambridge, MA 02138, USA
Amanda Kedaigle & Silvia Velasco
(joint talk, Regev Lab & Arlotta Lab)
When making a brain in a flask,
It’s perfectly natural to ask:
Will it look the same when
I grow it again?
Reproducible: that is our task.
Stem cell-derived human brain organoids hold great promise for studying the development and function of the human brain and provide an invaluable tool to model neurological diseases. However, the utility of these model systems has been hampered by the limited characterization and comparison of the cell types and features produced by distinct protocols and their inherent reproducibility. Therefore, we optimized a 3D human organoid model pre-patterned to form the dorsal forebrain and performed extensive characterization of the cell types produced in it, using large-scale single-cell molecular profiling, in a systematic comparison across individual organoids and stem cell lines. Brain organoids, cultured for extended times in vitro, can generate a rich diversity of cell types appropriate for the human cerebral cortex, with organoid-to-organoid variability that is comparable to that of individual endogenous brains. The work paves the way for modeling aspects of human cortical development and disease that have never been experimentally accessible outside the embryo.
QBS isn't another seminar. It's a place for collaboration and discussion. Speakers--alternating between faculty and students--give chalk talks and encourage questions throughout. You won't find any hour-long slide decks here, but you will find pizza, beer, and other quantitatively minded researchers from biology, physics, engineering, math, and more. Join us every Thursday evening at 5 pm to talk about interesting ideas... and maybe spark a few ideas of your own.
To sign up for the QBS announcement listserv: https://lists.fas.harvard.edu/mailman/listinfo/qbs