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3D-printed brain tissue
Researchers in Australia have developed a new way of printing 3D structures that closely resemble layered brain tissue
In the latest effort to build an artificial laboratory model of the brain, Australian researchers have developed a novel method for constructing layered biological structures that looks just like cerebral cortex tissue using a handheld 3D printer.
Neuroscientists rarely get the opportunity to study the human brain directly, and so work on cells or tissue slices that have been dissected from animals and grown in Petri dishes. These in vitro methods are useful for studying development and processes such as neurodegeneration and cell-to-cell signalling, but are severely limited in that they do not resemble the complex three-dimensional structure of the brain.
To overcome these obstacles, Rodrigo Lozano of the University of Wollongong in Australia and his colleagues used 3D printing, a manufacturing process that involves creating three-dimensional objects by laying down successive layers of material one on top of the other.
The researchers harvested immature cortical neurons from embryonic mice and encapsulated them within a natural gellan gum polymer hydrogel to create a ‘bio-ink’ cell suspension. As well as being cheap and biocampatible, gellan gum protects the cells it encapsulates, is porous enough for them to exchange nutrients and waste materials with the surrounding growth medium, and solidifies effectively at room temperature.
Lozano and his colleagues fabricated the brain tissue with a simple handheld 3D printer, then used scanning electron microscopy to probe the internal structure of the printed structures, and fluorescent antibody staining combined with confocal microscopy to examine the cells within them.
This revealed that the hydrogel supported the survival and attachment of the neurons, allowing them to grow and extend their fibres over distances of several hundred microns, so that five days later they had an appearance characteristic of mature cortical cells and had formed layered structures resembling the cerebral cortex.
Recently, several groups have succeeded in growing artificial miniature models of the brain called cerebral organoids, but these can only grow to about 4mm in diameter because they lack an organized blood supply and, because they self-assemble from stem cells, do not lend themselves to being examined in any detail.
The new method is, therefore, something of an advance on this, but Lozano and his colleagues emphasise that it was not developed in order to grow replacement brain parts in the lab. Rather, it could offer researchers a cheap new method for testing drugs and studying nerve cell behaviour, injury, and disease.
Reference
Lozano, R., et al. (2015). 3D printing of layered brain-like structures using peptide modified gellan gum substrates. Biomaterials, 67: 264-273. [Abstract]
Source: http://www.theguardian.com/science/neurophilosophy/2015/aug/12/3d-printed-brain-tissue
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Founded by Russian entrepreneur Dmitry Itskov in February 2011 with the participation of leading Russian specialists in the field of neural interfaces, robotics, artificial organs and systems.
The main goals of the 2045 Initiative: the creation and realization of a new strategy for the development of humanity which meets global civilization challenges; the creation of optimale conditions promoting the spiritual enlightenment of humanity; and the realization of a new futuristic reality based on 5 principles: high spirituality, high culture, high ethics, high science and high technologies.
The main science mega-project of the 2045 Initiative aims to create technologies enabling the transfer of a individual’s personality to a more advanced non-biological carrier, and extending life, including to the point of immortality. We devote particular attention to enabling the fullest possible dialogue between the world’s major spiritual traditions, science and society.
A large-scale transformation of humanity, comparable to some of the major spiritual and sci-tech revolutions in history, will require a new strategy. We believe this to be necessary to overcome existing crises, which threaten our planetary habitat and the continued existence of humanity as a species. With the 2045 Initiative, we hope to realize a new strategy for humanity's development, and in so doing, create a more productive, fulfilling, and satisfying future.
The "2045" team is working towards creating an international research center where leading scientists will be engaged in research and development in the fields of anthropomorphic robotics, living systems modeling and brain and consciousness modeling with the goal of transferring one’s individual consciousness to an artificial carrier and achieving cybernetic immortality.
An annual congress "The Global Future 2045" is organized by the Initiative to give platform for discussing mankind's evolutionary strategy based on technologies of cybernetic immortality as well as the possible impact of such technologies on global society, politics and economies of the future.
Future prospects of "2045" Initiative for society
2015-2020
The emergence and widespread use of affordable android "avatars" controlled by a "brain-computer" interface. Coupled with related technologies “avatars’ will give people a number of new features: ability to work in dangerous environments, perform rescue operations, travel in extreme situations etc.
Avatar components will be used in medicine for the rehabilitation of fully or partially disabled patients giving them prosthetic limbs or recover lost senses.
2020-2025
Creation of an autonomous life-support system for the human brain linked to a robot, ‘avatar’, will save people whose body is completely worn out or irreversibly damaged. Any patient with an intact brain will be able to return to a fully functioning bodily life. Such technologies will greatly enlarge the possibility of hybrid bio-electronic devices, thus creating a new IT revolution and will make all kinds of superimpositions of electronic and biological systems possible.
2030-2035
Creation of a computer model of the brain and human consciousness with the subsequent development of means to transfer individual consciousness onto an artificial carrier. This development will profoundly change the world, it will not only give everyone the possibility of cybernetic immortality but will also create a friendly artificial intelligence, expand human capabilities and provide opportunities for ordinary people to restore or modify their own brain multiple times. The final result at this stage can be a real revolution in the understanding of human nature that will completely change the human and technical prospects for humanity.
2045
This is the time when substance-independent minds will receive new bodies with capacities far exceeding those of ordinary humans. A new era for humanity will arrive! Changes will occur in all spheres of human activity – energy generation, transportation, politics, medicine, psychology, sciences, and so on.
Today it is hard to imagine a future when bodies consisting of nanorobots will become affordable and capable of taking any form. It is also hard to imagine body holograms featuring controlled matter. One thing is clear however: humanity, for the first time in its history, will make a fully managed evolutionary transition and eventually become a new species. Moreover, prerequisites for a large-scale expansion into outer space will be created as well.
Key elements of the project in the future
• International social movement
• social network immortal.me
• charitable foundation "Global Future 2045" (Foundation 2045)
• scientific research centre "Immortality"
• business incubator
• University of "Immortality"
• annual award for contribution to the realization of the project of "Immortality”.
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