About this episode

Dr. Tyler Wenzel discusses how miniature human brains grown in a lab are transforming research in neurology and immunology.

Miniature human brains grown in a Saskatoon lab are upending the way researchers see neurology and immunology. Neuroscientist Dr. Tyler Wenzel is using brain organoids to challenge decades of rodent-based research, charting a new course for precision medicine. As a high school biology teacher, Wenzel's students learned how hearts pump blood and lungs move air. But apart from neurological electrical activity, neither Wenzel nor the textbooks had many clear answers about the brain. During his graduate studies, Wenzel realized the same experimental question tended to produce opposite results for mice and humans. The key difference, he found, lay in how each species' responded to toxins and injury, leaving him skeptical of neurological therapies tested on rodents. Now an assistant professor of psychiatry at the University of Saskatchewan , Wenzel focuses on youth degenerative brain disease and the limits of traditional research models. He grows human brain organoids — "mini brains" — from pluripotent stem cells derived from sources like blood or skin. Measuring two millimetres apiece, those organoids resemble tiny blobs of chewing gum. "We will turn [cells from a patient] into…

People in this episode

Guest: Dr. Tyler Wenzel

Topics covered

• neurology
• immunology
• precision medicine
• brain organoids
• youth degenerative brain disease
• research models

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: University of Saskatchewan, OVDR, College of Medicine

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