Frankenstein Scientists develop Mini Brains made out of Aborted Fetuses

Scientists have developed the world’s first mini brains in a breakthrough they hope could revolutionize neuroscience.

The 3D organs – which are about the size of a grain of rice – were grown in a lab using human fetal brain tissue from healthy abortion material.

Scientists at the Princess Máxima Center for Pediatric Oncology in the Netherlands aimed to grow a a brain in early-mid development and so used the brain tissue from aborted fetus’ that were in the gestational period of weeks 12 through 15.

The team was surprised to find that the fetal brain tissue was vital to growing a mini brain.

Until now, when growing other mini organs, scientists would break down original tissues into single cells by using embryonic or pluripotent stem cells to grow and replicate specific areas of the brain.

This discovery led scientists to consider using the mini-organ to model brain cancer and specifically focus on how it develops in children in the hope that it will lead to a cure.

‘These new fetal tissue-derived organoids can offer novel insights into what shapes the different regions of the brain and what creates cellular diversity,’ according to Dr Delilah Hendriks, a group leader at the Princess Máxima Center for pediatric oncology, postdoctoral researcher at the Hubrecht Institute and Oncode Investigator, who co-wrote the study.

Anonymous donors agreed for scientists to use the tissue for research purposes only.

The researchers wanted to know if they could create a long-term expanding organ with the same cellular complexity found in a human brain.

Using the fetal brain tissue, the team cut the tissue into small pieces and organized them in a dish before placing the cultures on an orbital shaker.

In the first four to eight days, researches noticed multiple 3D structures forming and continued to grow, while still resembling brain tissue in appearance.

The team found that by splitting the fetal brain organoid, it would reform at twice the original size within 20 to 30 days of culture.

This full process continued over eight months, with the mini brains eventually growing to 1,500 cubic centimeters in size, at which point its growth slowed down but could be maintained.

The team then focused on its primary goal of combatting brain cancer, and used some of the newly formed organoids to develop mini-tumors.

The team used CRISPR-Cas9, a gene-editing technique, to a small number of cells in the organoids to introduce a cancer gene called TP53 to model brain cancer.

Crispr-Cas9 is a tool for making precise edits in DNA discovered in bacteria.

It took three months for the gene to fully take over the healthy cells, replicating the same features of typical cancer cells and showing the potential for cancer drug research.

Their findings, published in the peer-reviewed journal Cell, revealed it might be possible to use the organoids to search for a cancer cure and ‘could revolutionize brain research.

‘Brain organoids from fetal tissue are an invaluable new tool to study human brain development,’ co-author Dr. Benedetta Artegiani said.

‘Our new, tissue-derived brain model allows us to gain a better understanding of how the developing brain regulates the identity of cells.

‘It could also help understand how mistakes in that process can lead to neurodevelopmental diseases such as microcephaly, as well as other diseases that can stem from derailed development, including childhood brain cancer.’

Almost 16,000 children between birth and 19 years old are diagnosed with cancer in the U.S. each year, 4,000 of whom are diagnosed with brain and spinal cord tumors.

The brain and spinal cord tumors account for about one out of four childhood cancers, and about one out of four children diagnosed with brain cancer don’t make it, according to the American Cancer Society.

For this reason, the Princess Máxima Center says it is driven to find a solution and believes that successfully developing the mini-brains will bring scientists one step closer to a cure.

‘We work together with passion and without limits every day to improve the survival rate and quality of life of children with cancer. Now, and in the long term, Princess Máxima Center said, adding: ‘Because children have their whole lives ahead of them.’

Where is the red line between outright immoral, inhuman behavior and actual science?

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