Authors: Michael Q. Fitzgerald, Tiffany Chu, Francesca Puppo, Rebeca Blanch, Miguel Chillón, Shankar Subramaniam and Alysson R. Muotri
Nature Protocols, 03 May 2024
Researchers used Axion’s Maestro Pro MEA to characterize the functionality of brain organoids in vitro.
Brain organoids are transforming disease research and therapeutic discovery. In this study, scientists present a "semi-guided" protocol for generating cortical organoids that incorporates features of both guided and unguided differentiation approaches, using Axion’s noninvasive Maestro multielectrode array (MEA) platform for functional characterization of the semi-guided cortical organoids. According to the authors, the method results in a shorter, more reproducible approach, and organoids generated with this protocol exhibit complex neural oscillations. Overall, the scientists conclude that the protocol “represents the potential first steps toward bridging molecular and cellular biology to human cognition, and it has already been used to discover underlying features of human brain development, evolution and neurological conditions.”
