Growing Human Brains in Space

Brain aging and neurological disease are hard to study because living human brain tissue is difficult to access. Alysson Muotri, Ph.D., UC San Diego, explains how brain organoids sent to space can model accelerated aging, reveal changes in neural networks, and help test potential treatments for brain disorders. Muotri examines space-induced senescence, fragmented network activity linked to dementia and Alzheimer’s patterns, and Rett syndrome findings showing inflammation tied to endogenous retroviruses and response to antiretroviral drugs in preclinical models. He also explores using brain organoids in space to screen neuroprotective compounds, including candidates identified from Amazon plants. This work helps explain how space biology can speed research on autism, Rett syndrome, Alzheimer’s disease, and other neurological conditions, and points toward new ways to test therapies on Earth. Series: "Stem Cell Channel" [Health and Medicine] [Science] [Show ID: 41475]