Stanford study finds brain develops more like jellyfish than thought
A new Stanford study just flipped what we thought we knew about the brain: it might actually be two separate systems instead of one.
Published today in Nature Neuroscience, the research shows our brains develop more like jellyfish than anyone expected, challenging old-school beliefs about how the brain starts from a single cell.
Hindbrain follows a separate developmental path
Turns out, the hindbrain followed a separate developmental path that ran in parallel to the path that creates the forebrain and midbrain.
This could help scientists create specific brain cells in labs: big news for tackling tough diseases like spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
Dr. Kyle Loh, associate professor of developmental biology at Stanford University and the study's senior author, said, "We've shown for the first time that the front of the brain arises from a totally different progenitor cell than the back of the brain."