First human brain grown in laboratory dubbed success, despite scientific doubt

For the first time in the history of science, an almost full-grown human brain was successfully grown outside the body and in a laboratory by a team of researchers. According to The Guardian, the brain is a size comparable to that of a 5-week-old fetus. The brain will be used in various researches and tests like drugs and treatments of mental-related diseases. However, other scientists are skeptical of the project, since data isn't available.

MUNTINLUPA, PHILIPPINES (Catholic Online) - During the Military Health System Research Symposium in Fort Lauderdale, Florida last Tuesday, Rene Anand of Ohio State University, Columbus presented research and claimed success on growing a brain inside their laboratory, which can revolutionize the understanding and technology used on neurology if proven and tested.

It was grown from adult human skin cells converted into pluripotent cells, a type of stem cell that can be programmed into any tissue of the body.

About the size of a pencil eraser, the brain of a 5-week-old fetus can be grown in just 12 weeks. The team cannot grow the organ further, because it will then need an artificial heart, among others. Although the claim is that the brain is about 99 percent developed with a spinal cord and retina, there are no ethical considerations for the work according to the researcher.

"We don't have any sensory stimuli entering the brain. This brain is not thinking in any way," said Anand.

The lab-grown brain technology is hoped to be used in further researches, but other scientists are mum about the news especially since the information was released to the press without any peer review.

"When someone makes such an extraordinary claim as this, you have to be cautious until they are willing to reveal their data," said consultant neurologist Zameel Cader at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford.

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