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	Podcast:		UC Science Today
	Episode:		Can a brain grown in a lab really represent the real thing?
	Category:		Science & Medicine
	Duration:		00:01:03
	Publish Date:		2016-07-28 19:00:00
	Description:		When it comes to research on the Zika virus, how well can a brain grown in a laboratory represent the real thing? In his recent studies, neuroscientist Arnold Kriegstein of the University of California, San Francisco realized that laboratories needed a model system to emulate the developing brain. These artificial models, or organoids, had to express a receptor known as A-X-L, which allows Zika to enter a baby’s brain from the blood. "We were looking at what other model systems could be used to study how the Zika virus infects cells and we found that those organoids also express AXL, and in the exact same place as they do in the normally developing brain." Although the model has some limitations, it is able to reproduce much of the physiology involved in Zika infection. The cells in these organoids can essentially self-organize into a 3-dimensional structure. "So that encouraged us that this model, which people all over the world are now using, can be studied to understand more about how the virus enters the cell, the consequences of infection, and so on."
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