ELSC Seminar Series 2022-2023 Dr. Omer Revah, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, November 24th, 2022

Using stem cells to build a model of the human cortex in vivo

Stem cell-derived brain organoids offer new opportunities to model human brain development and disease. However, one major dStem cell-derived brain organoids offer new opportunities to model human brain development and disease. However, one major drawback of these tissue cultures is that they invariably fail to properly mature when maintained in vitro. This talk will focus on our recent study demonstrating that cortical organoid transplantation into newborn rats can be used to model late stages of human cortical development. It will show that cortical excitatory neurons transplanted into the brain of newborn rats display advanced transcriptional, morphological and functional properties, which resemble those of postnatal human cells, and that advanced maturation enables discovery of disease phenotypes. Finally, I will discuss the paths forward for building an even more realistic human cortical microcircuit to be used for understanding neuropsychiatric disorders.