Oxford scientists to grow human brain cells in lab for Parkinson’s Disease study

Scientists in Oxford University including biologists and engineers have received a grant to grow human brain neurons in the lab.

The medical sciences division of the university on 14 February said the project is aimed at understanding how such neurons work to help in the study of Parkinson’s disease and other types of brain-related diseases.

A sum of £2 million has been awarded to the team for this project, which is the first of its kind.

A promising study

According to the medical sciences department, understanding and modelling how the circuit linking together the regions known as the midbrain, the striatum and the cortex has been difficult.

This presents a challenge because of the importance of understanding these structures in studying disorders such as Parkinson’s disease, addiction and autism.

This is because the human brain is mainly inaccessible and current technologies have been limited in the growing of these neurons to study them.

The new Oxford collaborative team of biologists and engineers led by Professor Richard Wade-Martins (DPAG/Kavli), Professor Ed Walsh (Dept. Engineering Sciences) and Dr Ricardo Marquez Gomez (DPAG/Kavli) will bring together the technologies of human stem cells and oil-wall microfluidics.

The publication read:

“The human stem cells will be used to generate each specific neuronal subtype of the cortical-striatal-midbrain circuit held within oil-walled chambers. Such chambers can reliably construct microenvironments and circuits with long-term accessibility, contrasting with current microfluidic technologies based on rigid and single use plastics.”

Key areas of focus

The study’s particular areas of interest will include physiology, regulation and cellular architecture of neurons in the circuit.

Others are the regulation of gene expression in the cell body and along the neuronal axons which form the circuits to understand how genes control neuronal circuit function.

It is expected that the outcome of the study will bring about a breakthrough in the understanding of Parkinson’s Disease and others that have eluded medical science for so long.