Use of iPSC derived brain cells to model neurodegenerative disorders

Despite major advances in our understanding of neurodegenerative disorders, no efficient therapies are available for patients with dementia, motor neuron disease and other neurodegenerative disorders. With the advent of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) it now becomes possible to better model human disease in vitro (and in humanized mice), which may lead to the development of novel therapies for these currently untreatable disorders. We are building such models, using PSC-derived cells combined with genome engineering to study neuronal characteristics but also glial (astrocyte, oligodendrocyte and microglia) contribution to neurodegeneration in 2D (downscaled to medium/high throughput 384 well plate formats for medium/high throughput screening and high content imaging) and starting to develop 3D models, to identify novel therapeutic targets and therapies.