New Biotechnology: Cerebral Organoids

    Scientist's will go to great lengths in the pursuit of knowledge. Some of our knowledge has come from exploitation of defenseless human beings through unethical experimentations. Some extreme examples include Joseph Mengele's experiments on identical twins, the Tuskegee syphilis experiment, and Jonas Salk's experiment on patients in a psychiatric hospital. In more recent decades, scientists have moved to more ethical means of conducting research, but there are still ethical dilemmas present. Therefore, we must ask ourselves: how far are we willing to go to acquire new knowledge and are the results of our experiments worth the ethical conflicts?

    The article "Dynamic Characterization of Structural, Molecular, and Electrophysiological Phenotypes of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cerebral Organoids, and Comparison with Fetal and Adult Gene Profiles" by Logan et. al. outlines the characteristics of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived cerebral organoids and why they are an important novel biotechnology. The most important aspect of these novel cerebral organoids is they are closer to actual human brains that previous models. For instance, the two-dimensional monolayer iPSC-derived neural cell model does not resemble the structure of a human brain, but iPSC-derived cerebral organoids are three-dimensional and closely resemble fetal human brains. Not only do they have a three-dimensional structure, but they also have areas that are comparable to regions of a human brain. This expands the different types of research that can be done on model cultures. The iPSC-derived cerebral organoids also show spontaneous electrical activity, drug action, and electrochemical responses. These are all important aspects of a cerebral model culture because they can better replicate disease and development and ultimately provide better, more extensive, research.

    In the article "An Ethical Future for Brain Organoids Takes Shape," published on Quanta magazine, Jordana Cepelewicz outlines a foreseeable ethical dilemma (organoids becoming conscious) and explains the already existing rules that control organoids derived from iPSCs. Even though cerebral organoids becoming conscious seems like science fiction, researchers will continue to make progress on growing more human-like organoids and may eventually create one capable of consciousness. Consciousness is a problem because it may lead to the organelles feeling pain or becoming self-aware, but even the best cerebral organoid model is nowhere near consciousness. More present ethical dilemmas that researchers are facing include the advantageousness of using cerebral organoids. In other words, do they actually do what scientists claim they can do, and can they be adequately used to study human brain development and diseases, if they cannot this research is all in vain. Expanding our knowledge in growing human brain models is vital to progression of understanding development and disease, but we must also explore the ethical implications we open up when creating new biotechnologies.

WORKS CITED

Cepelewicz, Jordana. "An Ethical Future for Brain Organoids Takes Shape." Quanta Magazine, Quanta Magazine, 23 Jan. 2020, www.quantamagazine.org/an-ethical-future-for-brain-organoids-takes-shape-20200123/.

Logan, Sarah, et al. "Dynamic Characterization of Structural, Molecular, and Electrophysiological Phenotypes of Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cerebral Organoids, and Comparison with Fetal and Adult Gene Profiles." Cells, 23 May 2020, pp. 1-22. MDPI, www.mdip.com/2070-4409/9/5/1301. doi: 10.3390/cells9051301