What is Life – On the EdgeScientists have taken ordinary skin samples from volunteers, doused them with chemicals and reprogrammed their DNA to become brain cells. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. These progenitor brain cells are called organoids and in the lab, they grow and produce electrical activity that resembles brain waves.Zimmer 2021_03_26_ 10.16[00:06:35.24] Organoids develop up to a certain point – they’re a little ball no smaller than a pea, and then they just stop. Science writer Carl Zimmer is the author of the book “Life’s Edge.” And organoids very much seem to be on life’s edge. Their future possibilities are mind-boggling. Zimmer: They’re a tiny tiny fraction of the size of a human brain. And scientists are wondering why do they stop? And it could be that when you get a little too big, it’s not possible for an organoid to get oxygen inside to the cells there that need it. So that raises all a lot of questions you know. Our brains use blood vessels to deliver oxygen deep inside. So scientists are saying, “well, can we put in some cells that can grow into blood vessels?” Can we have a mixture of these brain cells and these blood vessel cells? Will they organize themselves into a brain organioid with tubes in it? And would that grow to be bigger?It’s also known that a big player in the development of our brains are immune cells. So scientists are saying “what happens if we mix in some of the special brain immune cells? Will we get more sophisticated organoids? What about making an organoid for a retina that can sense light and then connecting that to a brain organoid? Now are you making an organoid that can see? So scientists are actually working on these things right now.Our thanks to Carl Zimmer. I’m Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.
What is Life - on the edge
Can we grow brain cells that can be trained to see?
Air Date:05/12/2021
Scientist:
Transcript:
What is Life - On the EdgeScientists have taken ordinary skin samples from volunteers, doused them with chemicals and reprogrammed their DNA to become brain cells. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet. These progenitor brain cells are called organoids and in the lab, they grow and produce electrical activity that resembles brain waves.Zimmer 2021_03_26_ 10.16[00:06:35.24] Organoids develop up to a certain point - they're a little ball no smaller than a pea, and then they just stop. Science writer Carl Zimmer is the author of the book "Life's Edge." And organoids very much seem to be on life's edge. Their future possibilities are mind-boggling. Zimmer: They're a tiny tiny fraction of the size of a human brain. And scientists are wondering why do they stop? And it could be that when you get a little too big, it's not possible for an organoid to get oxygen inside to the cells there that need it. So that raises all a lot of questions you know. Our brains use blood vessels to deliver oxygen deep inside. So scientists are saying, "well, can we put in some cells that can grow into blood vessels?" Can we have a mixture of these brain cells and these blood vessel cells? Will they organize themselves into a brain organioid with tubes in it? And would that grow to be bigger?It's also known that a big player in the development of our brains are immune cells. So scientists are saying "what happens if we mix in some of the special brain immune cells? Will we get more sophisticated organoids? What about making an organoid for a retina that can sense light and then connecting that to a brain organoid? Now are you making an organoid that can see? So scientists are actually working on these things right now.Our thanks to Carl Zimmer. I'm Jim Metzner and this is the Pulse of the Planet.