This fourth issue of the biomedicine newsletter, strategic health watch, is devoted to brain organoids or "cerebroids".
These three-dimensional ministructures are grown in the laboratory from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) or embryonic stem cells (hESC), and are capable of differentiating and self-organizing to form veritable small organs. Liver, intestine, heart, pancreas and lung organoids exist, but researchers are also developing brain organoids! While this technological revolution offers inestimable potential for understanding the brain and its pathologies, cerebroids regularly arouse curiosity and fear, as well as the public's imagination. Regardless of the model's current limitations, talk of "brains in culture" generates an avalanche of ethical questions, which are addressed in this letter.
This strategic health watch, presented by the Research, Europe, International and Watch Unit of the Agence de la biomédecine's Medical and Scientific Department, is designed to highlight the advances and ethical issues surrounding biomedical questions.