Description:

Abstract:

The fundamental question in brain research is to understand how the complex human brain is developed. The human brain development studies have been hampered by the availability of human specimens and are limited to postmortem human brain tissues. Therefore, investigators used non-human models to understand how human brain develops. While these studies built the foundation of human brain development, non-human models do not fully represent the complexity and functional connectivity of human brain. Recently advancements in human induced pluripotent stem cell and 3D cell culture technologies made it possible to generate cerebral organoids. This technology made it possible to explore the human brain development in a dish, and increased our opportunities for personalized medicine.

Speaker Info:

Gokhan Dalgin Ph.D., is a staff scientist at the University of Chicago. Dr. Dalgin is experienced in modeling human diseases. His current initiative is to generate human induced pluripotent stem cell (hiPSC) derived organoids to develop personalized treatments. Prior to joining to Section of Endocrinology, Diabetes and Metabolism Dr. Dalgin has specialized in embryonic pancreas development and identified a genetic network that gives rise to embryonic pancreatic beta-cells. Dr. Dalgin received his B.S., degree in Biology from Ankara University, Turkey and his Ph.D., degree in Cell and Developmental Biology from Oregon Health and Science University, Portland OR.