University of Cambridge scientists are growing miniature models of human brains in the lab in order to learn how to treat rare and fatal neurological diseases.

In this new study, however, the Cambridge team said it found a way to keep brain organoids alive for as long as 240 days—even ones that possess the mutations that lead to ALS/FTD.

(In unpublished work, the team says it has been able to keep some organoids alive for 340 days.) The trick appears to be a new technique in slicing cell cultures that helps deliver more oxygen and nutrients to organoid parts.

The research team grew one of these hardier mini-brains with the genetic mutations most commonly associated with ALS/FTD, and as the disease progressed, they learned which brain cells were afflicted earlier on (particularly astroglia, the neural cells which govern muscle movements and cognition).

The team said it was able to affirm the efficacy of one known drug, GSK2606414, in relieving cell stress and death caused by ALS/FTD.

With the ability to keep brain organoids alive longer, the hope is that other treatments for ALS/FTD—and other brain diseases—can be tested out much more rapidly in the near future?