Herbert Horvitz professor in neuroscience and director, division of stem cell biology research, Department of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope

Yanhong Shi, PhD

“We believe [the miniature brain model] provides a powerful model to test the disease-modifying drugs for AD, and even related dementias, and it’s timesaving because we can test those drugs very quickly, winning [back] days and weeks, instead of months.”

City of Hope National Medical Center recently announced the development of a miniature brain model that will be used to study sporadic Alzheimer disease (AD), the most common form of the disease. Investigators remain hopeful that the model will help in uncovering the pathological mechanisms of AD, while also offering opportunities to test disease-modifying drugs prior to testing in humans. The model was developed using human-induced pluripotent stem cell technology, straying from standard preclinical research, which often uses animal models.  

Yanhong Shi, PhD, Herbert Horvitz professor in neuroscience, and director, division of stem cell biology research, Department of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Beckman Research Institute, City of Hope, spoke with 

on the mini brain model, which she believes will not only save time and money in terms of drug development, but will also aid in an understanding of genetic and environmental factors that may increase risk of AD and other dementias. 

City of Hope researchers develop miniature brain models to study the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and to test drugs in development. News release. City of Hope. August 2, 2021. Accessed August 17, 2021. https://story.cision.com/r/35x3Bk 

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The director of stem cell biology research at City of Hope spoke on the newly developed brain organoid, which has the potential to help investigators identify pathological mechanisms of Alzheimer disease.  

Potential for Alzheimer Drug Development With Miniature Brain Models: Yanhong Shi, PhD

“We believe the IPS (induced pluripotent stem cell)-derived working model provides a powerful way to study sporadic disease, the form [that affects a vast majority of those with] Alzheimer disease, and it can be used to model both genetic and environmental risk factors.”

Following the development of a miniature brain model to study sporadic Alzheimer disease, Yanhong Shi, PhD, Herbert Horvitz professor in neuroscience and director, division of stem cell biology research, Department of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, spoke with 

 on the key takeaways for clinicians, as well as the model’s ability to inform future research areas. 

While previous studies have used phenotypically young brain models, investigators from City of Hope challenged this through their age-associated brain organoids. As it is an investigational model, the organoid lacks a blood-brain barrier (BBB). Investigators counteracted this obstacle by exposing the organoid to serum in order to mimic leakage from the BBB seen in human patients with AD, a symptom associated with aging. Although findings will need to be validated in a clinical trial, Shi remains hopeful that the model will be useful prior to that stage, accelerating drug discovery, further increasing success rates, and lowering associated costs. 

City of Hope researchers develop miniature brain models to study the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and to test drugs in development. News release. City of Hope. August 2, 2021. https://story.cision.com/r/35x3Bk

Yanhong Shi, PhD, director of stem cell biology research at City of Hope, discussed the new brain organoid, which was derived from human induced pluripotent stem cell technology to better study and understand sporadic Alzheimer disease.  

Miniature Brain Model Has Clinical Implications for Alzheimer Disease: Yanhong Shi, PhD

“We believe that using this model, we will be able to review pathological mechanisms underlying Alzheimer disease that were not possible to uncover using the previous animal models or familial AD models. Also, this model will give us a powerful tool to test drugs for AD prior to them proceeding to clinical trials.” 

Researchers at City of Hope have developed a miniature brain platform to study Alzheimer disease (AD), with the potential to evaluate new treatment options and explore the disease’s pathological mechanisms. Yanhong Shi, PhD, Herbert Horvitz professor in neuroscience and director, division of stem cell biology research, Department of Developmental and Stem Cell Biology, Beckman Research Institute of City of Hope, spoke with 

 about the model and its anticipated use in clinical trials. 

Shi spoke specifically on the effect the mini brain organoid could have on high costs associated with drug development, as the mini brain model will allow experts to assess efficacy and neurotoxicity prior to moving to human trials. Researchers have so far modeled sporadic AD using human induced pluripotent stem cell technology, then tested for biomarkers such as synaptic density, neural network activity, and levels of Aβ and tau tangles. 

City of Hope researchers develop miniature brain models to study the causes of Alzheimer’s disease and to test drugs in development. News release. City of Hope. August 2, 2021. https://story.cision.com/r/35x3Bk 

The director of the division of stem cell biology research at City of Hope discussed the potential of the model to study the mechanistic causes of Alzheimer disease and to test dementia drugs currently in development.  

Yanhong Shi, PhD

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Potential for Alzheimer Drug Development With Miniature Brain Models: Yanhong Shi, PhD

Miniature Brain Model Has Clinical Implications for Alzheimer Disease: Yanhong Shi, PhD

Miniature Brain Models May Inform Alzheimer Disease Research, Clinical Trials: Yanhong Shi, PhD

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