Mini brains with tumor grown in the laboratory «kleinzeitung.at



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Mini-brains on which we can study the development of malignant tumors: Viennese researchers led by Jürgen Knoblich have made other breakthroughs.

17:53, 23 July 2018

  Artistic Representation of Research
Artistic Representation of Research © BeataScienceArt / IMBA [19659009] They have only four millimeters and yet they correspond in their structure to the human brain: Since 2013, scientists around Jürgen Knoblich of the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology in Vienna have been able to study brain development of mini three-dimensional organoids. Researchers have now opened a new field of application: mini-brains as a model for malignant brain tumors.

Knoblich and the co-authors presented their findings in the scientific journal Nature Methods. The system should serve as a model for future research on brain tumors, he wrote

Limited possibilities in animal modeling

The antecedents are as follows: Models of brain tumors with genetically modified mice offer very limited possibilities because humans are different from mice in many ways. If one transfers tissue from human brain tumors to mice, one can no longer examine the origin of the tumors since the tumor tissue already exists.

In addition, the immune status of foreign tissue tolerant mice does not match that of humans. Finally, it is important to reproduce the tissue composition of the human brain in a three-dimensional way, which is hardly possible in the laboratory using other methods

 Jürgen Knoblich "class = "lazyload" data-src = "http: // www.kleinezeitung.at/images/uploads_600/2/e/1/5468913/78C626EB-459D-4830-B509-D8C74D81A595_v0_h.jpg" data-src-big = "/ images / uploads / 2 / e / 1/5468913 / 78C626EB-459D-4830-B509-D8C74D81A595_v0_h.jpg
Jürgen Knoblich Photo © APA / HERBERT PFARRHOFER

Jürgen Knoblich is the only one of his kind. one of the most successful scientists in Austria. He conducts research at the Institute of Molecular Biotechnology (IMBA) of the Vienna Academy of Sciences

The brain organoids he and his team raised were named in 2013 as one of the world's best discoveries. l & # 39; year. These "mini-organs" are derived from human stem cells. Diseases can be studied on them

Detailed Brains

The Viennese scientists want to treat these problems with "neoplastic brain organoids". "These tiny organoids faithfully reproduce unique aspects of the human brain, such as its different cell types and developmental stages, allowing us to understand the development of tumors and provide a system for testing new therapies" Knoblich, Scientific Director acting at IMBA, was quoted as saying:

 A Cerebral Organoid with Tumor Cells "class =" lazyload "data-src =" http://www.kleinezeitung.at/images/ uploads_600 /2/f/1/5468913/brain_tumor_2-10x_6a5ddc21ba_1532355068970730_v0_h.jpg "data-src-big =" / images / uploads / 2 / e / 1/5468913 / brain_tumor_2-10x_6a5ddc21ba_1532355068970730_v0_h.jpg
A Cerebral Organoid with Cells Photo © IMBA

In the end, scientists have used several genetic modification techniques, such as methods for the propagation of oncogenes s DNA and the technique of "scissors" CRISPR-Cas9 to Organoids z Using data from the cancer genome reviews and using this information, it was possible to create brain organoids which correspond to glioblastomas or tumors of the central nervous system (CNS-PNET).

Scientists have called the system "NeoCOR".

Examine the origin of the disease

These models could now be used to study the development of tumor diseases in the brain in basic research. According to recent scientific research, diseases are probably several dozens of different diseases or subtypes. Old categorizations and characterizations could be obsolete. However, such 3D organoid models could also be used to test drugs for their potential effectiveness.

"The NeoCOR model is a valuable tool used to study the fundamentals of brain tumor biology and, worldwide, research is under way on various forms of cancer, such as the manufacture of test material derived from the tumor of individual patients to organoids of the affected organ, and then as quickly as possible can test the sensitivity to various drugs against cancer


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