In 2014, Drs. Rudy Tanzi and Doo Yeon Kim resolved one of the critical challenges of Alzheimer’s disease research: how to grow human brain cells that exhibit the hallmarks of Alzheimer’s pathology in a form mimicking that of a brain. This new tool allowed for a more thorough testing of existing drugs to determine whether they should be considered for clinical trials.

This year, Drs. Tanzi and Hansang Cho have expanded on the original Alzheimer’s in a Dish system to culture neural stem cells that, in addition to having elevated levels of amyloid beta and tau, also have the inflammatory factors known to contribute to neuroinflammation in Alzheimer’s disease.

The original paper is published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.

Science Daily: “Microfluidic System incorporates neuroinflammation into Alzheimer’s in a dish model. https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2018/07/180730145418.htm

Harvard Gazette: ‘Alzheimer’s in a dish’ model provides some answers. System fully replicates Alzheimer’s pathology, including neural cell death.

https://news.harvard.edu/gazette/story/2018/07/alzheimers-in-a-dish-model-provides-answers/