Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Time: 4:00 pm-5:00 pm, followed by reception
Speaker: Guo-li Ming, Ph.D.
Affiliation: Perelman Professor of Neuroscience, University of Pennsylvania

Host: Hiruy Meharena, Ph.D.

Talk title: Modeling human brain development and brain disorders using 3D organoids.

Abstract: Human Induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) has the potential to generate all cell types of a human body under 2D culture conditions or form organ like structures- organoids, under 3D culture conditions. Brain organoid cultures from human iPSCs have been recently developed to recapitulate the cellular composition and the cytoarchitecture of the developing brain. These hiPSC based model systems offer unique advantages in understanding molecular and cellular mechanisms governing embryonic neural development and in modeling neurodevelopmental disorders, such as brain malformation and neuropsychiatric disorders. We have improved the organoid technology and developed a protocol to produce more mature forebrain-specific organoids. We have also developed tumor organoids from glioblastoma patients.  I will discuss our recent work using these systems to understand human brain development and brain diseases.

Key words: brain organoids, brain development, Glioblastoma organoids, human iPSCs