April 1, 2016
Every day there are more and more breakthroughs and advances in modern medicine. Doctors and scientists all over the world, in all different fields, are coming up with cutting edge procedures and cures to improve people’s quality of life and health. Neuroscience is no exception.
An astounding leap in neurological scientific research is in progress, courtesy of Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, in the form of the creation of “mini-brains” comprised of human brain cells. Although microscopic – about the size of a housefly’s eye – the impact for research is poised to be astronomical.
Grown in a petri dish and easily replicable on a large scale (hundreds of thousands of copies per batch), the intension of these tiny cell compilations is to more effectively study and test pharmaceuticals on neurological disorders such as Alzheimer’s, MS, Parkinson’s, and potentially autism, eventually taking the place of current animal studies.
According to Thomas Hartung, MD, PhD, leading the study, “95 percent of drugs that look promising when tested in animal models fail once they are tested in humans, and at great expense of time and money. While rodent models have been useful, we are not 150-pound rats. And even though we are not balls of cells either, you can often get much better information from these balls of cells than from rodents.” This study could change the lives of those battling neurological conditions!
While new solutions are discovered every day, these studies can take time. Many people are playing the waiting game for help with their condition, and that game can be hard and painful. Continuum is here to help in the meantime for those suffering from the side effects of a disease or the treatment of a disease. Our caregivers are here to help whether it be deciding what kind of care is necessary through a free in-home consultation, or providing assistance with a variety of in-home needs.
If you live in St. Louis or St. Charles counties, contact us today to learn more about what we can do to help! Contact us here or at (314) 863-9912 or (636) 861-3336.