MADELINE A. LANCASTERA team from the Austrian Academy of Science has grown three-dimensional models of embryonic human brains made from stem cells. Jürgen Knoblich and his colleagues noted that while these so-called cerebral organoids cannot be used to study higher-level brain functions, they may be useful models for studying early development and neurodevelopmental disorders. Indeed, the researchers used the three-dimensional, brain-like structures to study a case of severe microcephaly. These structures could help reduce the need for animal models, noted Knoblich, though it won’t eliminate the need for them entirely.
Stem cell biologist Arnold Kriegstein from the University of California, San Francisco, lauded the work. He told The Scientist that these organoids are “the most complete to date in terms of features that directly resemble those in the developing human brain.”
WIKIMEDIA, KLIP GAMEWith dozens of biotech firms having already gone public this year, analysts are celebrating the current biotech boom—and wondering when it might end. Portions of the Jumpstart Our Business Startups (JOBS) Act have helped several early-stage life-science companies make it to market since 2012, and established biotechs have also demonstrated recent success. Furthermore, investors seem to have warmed to the idea of buying into tools and technologies that they once may have glazed over.
Emily Mendel, a spokesperson for the National Venture Capital Association (NVCA), told The Scientist that firms that were previously skeptical about their potential for success are now making big moves. “There was a lot of market uncertainty, and [companies] might have been waiting for the right time,” she said. “And I think the right time has come.”
WIKIMEDIA, HERBERTTA new report tells the tale of how reticuloendotheliosis viruses (REVs) may have initially spread from mammals to birds. “It’s basically an example of a contamination that went rogue . . . and extraordinary bad luck,” Eric Delwart, a professor of laboratory medicine at the University of California, San Francisco, told The Scientist.
