Rat brain injuries ‘plugged’ with lab-grown human minibrains in world-first experiment

Published

2 years ago

February 3, 2023

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Miniature, lab-grown models of the human brain’s wrinkled surface can be used to patch injuries in the brains of living rats and thus repair broken connections in the rodents’ sensory processing systems, a new study shows. Someday, such minibrains — known as brain organoids — could potentially be used to mend the brains of human patients, too, the study authors propose.

“I see this as the first step in developing a new strategy for repairing the brain,” said Dr. Han-Chiao Isaac Chen (opens in new tab) , the study’s senior author and an assistant professor of neurosurgery at the University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine.

Eventually, organoids could be used to restore the brain’s function following a traumatic injury, invasive surgery or stroke, or to help combat the effects of neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson’s, Chen told Live Science. However, we’re many years away from applying the technology in humans, he said.

In their new study, published Thursday (Feb. 2) in the journal Cell Stem Cell (opens in new tab) , Chen and his colleagues demonstrated that brain organoids grown from human stem cells can be transplanted into an injured rat’s visual cortex, where information from the eyes first gets sent for processing.

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When light hits the retina in the eye, an electrical message zips to the “primary” visual cortex, which begins parsing the basic features of whatever’s in front of the eye. Those data then get forwarded to the “secondary” visual cortex, which takes the analysis a step further. In the new study, adult rats sustained a major injury to the secondary visual cortex, and researchers essentially used an organoid to plug the resulting hole in the brain.

In prior research, scientists have transplanted individual brain cells into healthy rodents of varying ages and organoids into the brains of very young, uninjured rodents; by transplanting organoids into older, injured rats, this study signals another step toward using organoids to repair brain injuries, Chen said.

The team grew their organoids from a type of human stem cell that can give rise to many different kinds of cells. For 80 days, the researchers had used chemical cues to coax these stem cells into 3D clumps that contained many, but not all, of the cell types found in the human cerebral cortex, the brain’s wrinkled outer layer. The cortex contains six distinct layers of tissue, and by day 80, the lab-grown organoids bore similar, but somewhat rudimentary, layers.RELATED STORIES—Tiny ‘hearts’ self-assemble in lab dishes and even beat like the real thing

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“This structure is really very important for defining how the brain actually functions,” Chen said of the organoids’ 3D architecture. However, although the clumps of tissue resemble a real cortex in many respects, “they’re not perfect, by any means,” he added.

To transplant each organoid into a rat brain, the team removed a piece of each rodent’s skull, placed the organoid inside and sealed the hole with a protective cap. The rats received immune-suppressing drugs during and after the procedure, to prevent their bodies from rejecting the transplant.

Over the following three months, the rats’ blood vessels infiltrated the organoids, and in turn, the organoids’ cells became physically intertwined with the rest of the rodents’ visual processing systems.

The organoids grew slightly larger during this time, gaining new cells and extending wires to link to the rats’ brain cells. The researchers mapped out these new connections using a fluorescent tracer, which revealed that the organoids had successfully connected to the retina through this network of wires. What’s more, the researchers showed the rats visual stimuli — including flashing lights and black and white bars on a screen — and found that their organoids activated in response, as an intact visual cortex would be expected to.

The team didn’t run vision or behavioral tests on the rats to investigate how their ability to see changed following their injuries or their transplant procedures. The researchers are now working on such assessments. In the future, they plan to test whether organoids can be similarly integrated into other parts of the brain, such as the motor cortex, which controls movement, and to study what factors control the speed and extent of that integration.

In addition, the team hopes to improve upon brain organoids such that they better mimic a real human brain. “We want a substrate that more faithfully replicates what the brain looks like,” as in theory, that should make the organoids more useful for future brain repairs, Chen said.

Politics

Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

Published

2 hours ago

July 12, 2025

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Unite votes to suspend Angela Rayner over Birmingham bin strike

Labour’s largest union donor, Unite, has voted to suspend Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner over her role in the Birmingham bin strike row.

Members of the trade union, one of the UK’s largest, also “overwhelmingly” voted to “re-examine its relationship” with Labour over the issue.

They said Ms Rayner, who is also housing, communities and local government secretary, Birmingham Council’s leader, John Cotton, and other Labour councillors had been suspended for “bringing the union into disrepute”.

There was confusion over Ms Rayner’s membership of Unite, with her office having said she was no longer a member and resigned months ago and therefore could not be suspended.

But Unite said she was registered as a member. Parliament’s latest register of interests had her down as a member in May.

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The union said an emergency motion was put to members at its policy conference in Brighton on Friday.

Unite is one of the Labour Party’s largest union donors, donating £414,610 in the first quarter of 2025 – the highest amount in that period by a union, company or individual.

The union condemned Birmingham’s Labour council and the government for “attacking the bin workers”.

Mountains of rubbish have been piling up in the city since January after workers first went on strike over changes to their pay, with all-out strike action starting in March. An agreement has still not been made.

Ms Rayner and the councillors had their membership suspended for “effectively firing and rehiring the workers, who are striking over pay cuts of up to £8,000”, the union added.

‘Missing in action’

General secretary Sharon Graham told Sky News on Saturday morning: “Angela Rayner, who has the power to solve this dispute, has been missing in action, has not been involved, is refusing to come to the table.”

She had earlier said: “Unite is crystal clear, it will call out bad employers regardless of the colour of their rosette.

“Angela Rayner has had every opportunity to intervene and resolve this dispute but has instead backed a rogue council that has peddled lies and smeared its workers fighting huge pay cuts.

“The disgraceful actions of the government and a so-called Labour council, is essentially fire and rehire and makes a joke of the Employment Relations Act promises.

“People up and down the country are asking whose side is the Labour government on and coming up with the answer not workers.”

Sir Keir Starmer’s spokesman said the government’s “priority is and always has been the residents of Birmingham”.

He said the decision by Unite workers to go on strike had “caused disruption” to the city.

“We’ve worked to clean up streets and remain in close contact with the council […] as we support its recovery,” he added.

A total of 800 Unite delegates voted on the motion.

World

Donald Trump announces 30% tariff on imports from EU

Published

3 hours ago

July 12, 2025

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Donald Trump announces 30% tariff on imports from EU

Donald Trump has announced he will impose a 30% tariff on imports from the European Union from 1 August.

The tariffs could make everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the US.

Mr Trump has also imposed a 30% tariff on goods from Mexico, according to a post from his Truth Social account.

Announcing the moves in separate letters on the account, the president said the US trade deficit was a national security threat.

In his letter to the EU, he wrote: “We have had years to discuss our trading relationship with The European Union, and we have concluded we must move away from these long-term, large, and persistent, trade Deficits, engendered by your tariff, and non-Tariff, policies, and trade barriers.

“Our relationship has been, unfortunately, far from reciprocal.”

In his letter to Mexico, Mr Trump said he did not think the country had done enough to stop the US from turning into a “narco-trafficking playground”.

The president of the European Commission, Ursula von der Leyen, said today that the EU could adopt “proportionate countermeasures” if the US proceeds with imposing the 30% tariff.

Ms von der Leyen, who heads the EU’s executive arm, said in a statement that the bloc remained ready “to continue working towards an agreement by Aug 1”.

“Few economies in the world match the European Union’s level of openness and adherence to fair trading practices,” she continued.

“We will take all necessary steps to safeguard EU interests, including the adoption of proportionate countermeasures if required.”

Ms von der Leyen has also said imposing tariffs on EU exports would “disrupt essential transatlantic supply chains”.

Meanwhile, Dutch Prime Minister Dick Schoof said on the X social media platform that Mr Trump’s announcement was “very concerning and not the way forward”.

He added: “The European Commission can count on our full support. As the EU we must remain united and resolute in pursuing an outcome with the United States that is mutually beneficial.”

Mexico’s economy ministry said a bilateral working group aims to reach an alternative to the 30% US tariffs before they are due to take effect.

The country was informed by the US that it would receive a letter about the tariffs, the ministry’s statement said, adding that Mexico was negotiating.

Trump’s tariff threats and delays

On his so-called “liberation day” in April, Mr Trump unleashed “reciprocal tariffs” on many of America’s trade partners.

The US president said he was targeting countries with which America has a trade imbalance.

However, since then he’s backed down in a spiralling tit-for-tat tariff face-off with China, and struck a deal with the UK.

The US imposed a 20% tariff on imported goods from the EU in April but it was later paused and the bloc has since been paying a baseline tariff of 10% on goods it exports to the US.

In May, while the US and EU where holding trade negotiations, Mr Trump threated to impose a 50% tariff on the bloc as talks didn’t progress as he would have liked.

However, he later announced he was delaying the imposition of that tariff while negotiations over a trade deal took place.

As of earlier this week, the EU’s executive commission, which handles trade issues for the bloc’s 27-member nations, said its leaders were still hoping to strike a trade deal with the Trump administration.

Without one, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and Boeing airplanes.

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