New stem cell research project to replicate brain's neural networks using 3D nanoprinting

Aston University has launched MESO-BRAIN, a major stem cell research project which it hopes will develop three-dimensional (3D) nanoprinting techniques that can be used to replicate the brain's neural networks. The cornerstone of the MESO-BRAIN project will be its use of pluripotent stem cells generated from adult human cells that have been turned into brain cells, which will form neural networks with specific biological architectures. Advance imaging and detection technologies developed in the project will be used to report on the activity of these networks in real time. Such technology would mark a new era of medical and neuroscience research which would see screening and testing conducted using physiologically relevant 3D living human neural networks. In the future, this could potentially be used to generate networks capable of replacing damaged areas in the brains of those suffering from Parkinson's disease, dementia or other brain trauma.