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Researchers at ETH Zurich are growing human brain-like tissue from stem cells and are then mapping the cell types that occur in different brain regions and the genes that regulate their development. 
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Brain tumor modeling using the CRISPR/Cas9 system: state of the art and view to the future
BigField GEG Tech's insight:
In this review, the authors proposed that brain tumor modeling could be well established via CRISPR/Cas9 techniques. CRISPR/Cas9-mediated brain tumor modeling was likely to be more suitable for figuring out the pathogenesis of brain tumors, as CRISPR/Cas9 platform was a simple and more efficient biological toolbox for implementing mutagenesis of oncogenes or tumor suppressors that were closely linked with brain tumors.
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BigField GEG Tech's insight:
In this study, the scientists used highly efficient targeted chromosomal deletions induced by the CRISPR/Cas9 genome editing tool to characterise two functional enhancers: FOXP2-Eproximal and FOXP2-Edistal, located in the intergenic region between FOXP2 and its adjacent MDFIC gene. Deletion of any of these two functional enhancers in a neuroectodermal tumor cell-line downregulates FOXP2 and decreases FOXP2 protein levels, conversely it upregulates MDFIC and increases MDFIC protein levels. The authors expect these findings contribute to a deeper understanding of FOXP2 and MDFIC may pace the development of speech and language in the brain.
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“CRISPR” validation of recessive brain cancer genes in vivo
BigField GEG Tech's insight:
In this editorial, the authors describe the power of the CRISPR system to enhance the screening of oncogenes and the understanding of cancer in the brain.
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A group of researchers has taken a new approach to studying human brain development: they are growing and using organoids, three-dimensional millimeter-sized tissues that can be grown from what are called pluripotent stem cells. Research on organoids made of human cellular material has the advantage that the results are transferable to humans. In a new study just published in Nature, its researchers have now studied thousands of individual cells in a brain organoid at different times and in great detail. The goal of this study was to systematically identify genetic switches that have a significant impact on the development of neurons in different regions of brain organoids. Using a CRISPR-Cas9 system, the researchers selectively turned off one gene in each cell, for a total of about two dozen genes simultaneously throughout the organoid. This allowed them to discover what role the respective genes played in the development of the brain organoid.