Overview

• The multi-region brain organoid, or MRBO, merges cerebral, midbrain, hindbrain and rudimentary endothelial tissues into one 3D structure.
• As its neural and vascular components fused, the organoid began producing coordinated electrical activity across regions.
• The MRBO expresses about 80 percent of the cell types found in a 40-day-old human fetal brain, demonstrating high developmental fidelity.
• Researchers observed initial blood-brain barrier formation within the organoid, indicating early vascular functional features.
• The human cell–based platform provides a new tool for modeling whole-brain conditions such as autism and Alzheimer’s and for improving the predictive success of neuropsychiatric drug trials.