Human brain cells grown in a dish can play games

Brain cells living in a dish in a lab can play the popular 70s tennis computer game, Pong. “So what?” you may ask. “How important is that?” Well, it’s mind-blowingly important.

Scientists at UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology and other institutions, led by bio-tech startup Cortical Labs, Melbourne, have created a system named Dishbrain to investigate how the brain works.

Dr Hon Weng Chong, chief executive of Cortical Labs, says: “Dishbrain offers a simpler approach to test how the brain works and gain insights into conditions such as epilepsy and dementia.”

The findings also provide a basis for testing the effects of drugs on the little “proto-brain”, whose decisions can then be measured.

Researchers took 800,000 brain cells from both embryonic mice and human brain cells derived from stem cells, and grew them on top of microelectrodes that could both stimulate them and read their activity. Electrodes on the left or right were then fired to tell a small number of neurons in the Dishbrain which side the ball was on, while distance from the paddle was indicated by the frequency of signals.

Feedback from the electrodes enabled Dishbrain to learn how to return the ball, by making the cells act as if they themselves were the paddle.

This is the first time scientists have been able to use electrodes to stimulate neurons in a way that results in meaningful behaviour.

Professor Karl Friston, of UCL Queen Square Institute of Neurology, says: “The beautiful and pioneering aspect of this work rests on equipping the neurons with sensations – the feedback – and crucially the ability to act on their world.”

By building a living model brain from basic structures in this way, scientists hope to be able to experiment using real brain function, rather than equivalent models made on a computer.

For example, the team now hopes to use the cells to see what effect alcohol has on Dishbrain.

Professor Friston said: “In short, how would a ‘drunken Dishbrain’ cope with playing Pong?

“The translational potential here is clearly relevant for psychiatric and neurological conditions that are manifest in terms of aberrant choices and behaviours, eg Parkinson’s disease and schizophrenia.”

The findings also raise the possibility of creating an alternative to animal testing when investigating how drugs or gene therapies work. Lead author Dr Brett Kagan, chief scientific officer at Cortical Labs, said: “We have shown we can interact with living biological neurons in such a way that compels them to modify their activity, leading to something that resembles intelligence.”

Wow!

‘‘ The team hope to use the cells to see what effect alcohol has