Artificial brain is being developed from Human Skin Cells

Scientists from Ohio State University said, that an almost entirely artificial brain that is being developed in the laboratory for the first time. The brain that has no awareness of it, has a size of a pea and is comparable to the five-week-old fetus, can accelerate neuroscience research in conditions such as Alzheimer's and Parkinson's.

Professor Rene Anand, lead author who presented this data at a military medical symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida, said that they have to reproduce any part of the brain. The artificial brain made from adult human skin cells, but the method is still largely kept secret because of the patent or copyright pending.

The unconscious brain, the size of a pea and comparable with a five-week old foetus. (Picture from: http://bit.ly/1EAXNwX)

"It just looks like the brain, it reflects all the genes that help manufacture the brain and that means all things, from the cortex to the spinal cord, everything is there," he said. Nevertheless, this artificial brain does not have the ability to be aware and Professor Rene said, because of that, the ethical problems will not arise.

"It did not have any sensory input so that the majority is living tissue that replicates the brain. When there is a genetic or environmental causes, we can assess how they change cell migration, for example, or the formation of synapses, or the formation of the circuit," he said.

He added, "So, it gives us exceptional access to know when something goes wrong, how much harm, and maybe one day we'll find a way to fix it."

As reported by The Guardian that some researchers that they contact were worry that the data is still kept secret and has not been through peer review. They say, this makes the condition becomes not possible to assess the quality and impact of the artificial brain.

These findings help Alzheimer's and Parkinson's 

Professor Rene expressed, this artificial brain can have a major impact on the study of neurological diseases and will speed up research.

"I think this is ethics because it will create a greater prediction on what will happen to a patient who was given the drug, both on the efficacy and side effects," he said.

He said, "You do not have to jump from rodents to humans. It will drop dramatically the cost of clinical trials. It is much cheaper to do than clinical trials."

"I think the prediction capacity will be phenomenal because of this man," he said. 

Professor Rene said, this artificial brain could help a number of conditions, especially Alzheimer's and Parkinson's. He said, the researchers will test it against people who have a genetic predisposition in the family.

"We're probably going to have trouble when the whole life he was exposed to some type of environmental toxins and did not know what it is. We probably will have a hard time to try to see how it happened and why," he said.

He added, "However, it is also a model that allows us to ask questions about the ANC. What happens to pregnant women who smoke smokeless nicotine, is it safe?"

"Or if you drink water containing plasticide, is it safe? We can ask this question in a human model, make predictions, and give guidance to the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) to regulate or not regulate or to provide information to the public," he said.

Professor Rene said he foresaw the moment when this artificial brain will open the door to understanding traumatic brain injury and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

"Recently in the military health science conference, we allow defense agencies to look at the technology that we created," he said.

The professor continued, "Our hope is that if they pay for us, we will be able to do what we're trying to do, say, for autism or Alzheimer's or Parkinson's, get skin cells of people who are traumatized, who have PTSD and that do not develop PTSD, and then we ask what difference it makes. "

"The question is, for example, you use a stress hormone and ask whether this person's brain reacts worse to it than others, and that is why they are experiencing PTSD or fail?" he said. *** [EKA | FROM VARIOUS SOURCES | THE GUARDIAN]

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