Multiphoton imaging of patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cell-derived brainoids

Development of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) approaches has enabled studies of epilepsy mechanisms in patient-based models.

Aims

This project combines stem cell biology with novel imaging techniques to aid the understanding of genetic epilepsy mechanisms.

This can be achieved by generating 3-D iPSC-derived neuronal cultures, so-called brainoids, which present self-organised neuronal assemblies. Video rate imaging of neuronal activity in these millimetre sized assemblies is made possible using short intense pulses of infrared light to image inside the living tissue. Scanning the light rapidly through the tissue causes fluorescence of genetically tagged populations of neurons, expressing Calcium-sensitive fluorescent indicators. This allows multiphoton optical mapping of electrical activity in the neural networks.