Tag Archives: lab grown

Bio computers with Neuroplatform could be the future

Neuroplatform

According to Wikipedia: Transhumanism is a philosophical and intellectual movement that advocates the enhancement of the human condition by developing and making widely available sophisticated technologies that can greatly enhance longevity, cognition, and well-being

Important Takeaways:

  • Brain power: Swiss startup powers computers with mini human brains
  • Swiss tech startup FinalSpark is now selling access to biocomputers that combine up to four tiny lab-grown human brains with silicon chips.
  • This new bioprocessing platform, called the Neuroplatform, uses small versions of human brains to do computer work instead of silicon chips. The company says it can fit 16 of these mini-brains onto the Neuroplatform and use a fraction of the energy required to power a traditional set up.
  • The platform, currently adopted by nine institutions, integrates hardware, software and biology to construct a processing system that is energy-efficient and high-performing.
  • “[The Neuroplatform] enables researchers to test ideas without having to setup a biological lab and hire all the dedicated personnel,” Jordan said.
  • The lab is available to researchers 24/7, uses real human neurons and uses the Python programming language, creating a “dream bridge between biology and data scientists,” according to Jordan.

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Scientists grow ‘minibrains’ from deceased fetuses

created-minibrain

Important Takeaways:

  • For the first time, scientists have grown cerebral organoids — three-dimensional, lab-grown “minibrains” — from human fetal brain tissue.
  • The new organoids grew to the size of a grain of rice and contained many types of cells that self-organized into complex 3D structures. The researchers also triggered the growth of brain tumors within the minibrains and tested the tumors’ response to existing cancer drugs.
  • To make the new minibrains, the researchers took samples of brain tissue from deceased fetuses around the gestational age of 12 to 15 weeks old, which had been provided by anonymous donors. They separately grew small samples of each of the tissues on small plates using specific nutrients and growth factors. Each sample was continuously shaken as it grew, to ensure that all the cells within them were exposed to these chemicals, and they were not provided any physical scaffolding to grow upon.
  • Around four to eight days later, the researchers noticed the formation of “multiple organized 3D structures” that later matured into organoids with a “tissue-like appearance.”

Read the original article by clicking here.