From Texas Public Radio:
Researchers on what’s called the Quantu project draw blood from participants, take cells from their blood and with help of the University of Texas at San Antonio’s Stem Cell Core researchers, they grow those cells into neural networks that reflect what’s going on in the participant’s brain at the moment they drew the blood.
“We can watch them over several weeks develop you’re seeing the stem cells become these networks of neurons. It’s incredible to watch. It’s the coolest thing.”
Amina Qutub is the Quantu team leader and an associate professor of biomedical engineering at UTSA, and she says the goal of this huge study … is simple.
“How do you digitalize brain health from when you’re growing up and developing to when you reach old age?” Qutub says.
She’s hoping to document behaviors that might indicate or even predict cognitive decline that can lead to dementias like Alzheimer’s. But how she’s doing it could not have been done a few years ago.
Listen to the rest of the story in the player above.
