Related Disease
Alzheimer’s Disease, Spinal Muscular Atrophy
Phenomena or Processes
Cell Signaling, Neurotransmitters
Anatomical Systems and Sites
Brain
Research Models
Human, Human Embryonic Stem Cells
At the University of Wisconsin, Zhang’s lab investigated how functionally different neurons and support cells are created in the developing human brain using both animal models and human stem cells, both embryonic stem cells (ESC) and induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC).
He found that neural differentiation from human ESCs follows similar programs in vertebrate animals, but also identified unique elements, such as transcription factors and signaling pathways. The work is intended to help re-pattern or re-program specialized neural cells to needed cell types which could be used to repair injured or diseased cells in neurological conditions like Alzheimer’s disease or spinal muscular atrophy.
Specifically, in 2005, Zhang and colleagues were the first scientists in the world to successfully differentiate human blastocyst stem cells into neural stem cells, then further into the starts of motor neurons, and eventually into spinal motor neuron cells, which play important role in delivering information from the brain to the spinal cord in the human body.
The artificially generated motor neurons appeared and behaved similarly to normal natural motor neurons.
Earlier this year, Zhang’s lab described producing the first 3D-printed brain tissue that can grow and function like typical brain tissue. “This could be a hugely powerful model to help us understand how brain cells and parts of the brain communicate in humans,” he said. “It could change the way we look at stem cell biology, neuroscience, and the pathogenesis of many neurological and psychiatric disorders.”
