High School Student Invented A Mini-Bioreactor To Grow Mini-Brains

A professor of neurology, Hongjun Song was surprised with an invention of a high school student, Christopher Hadiono, that contributed to a major advancement of conventional bioreactors. Song witnessed the capability of Hadiono in mastering a computer software in creating machine parts with the use of a 3D printer within just a few weeks.

Mail Online reported that the young high school student made a device that can culture tiny layering brain organoids or mini-brains that look like real brain neurons of a human. The device is like of a small version of a conventional bioreactor where cells can be grown by administering nutrients and controlling ideal temperatures for its growth.

Song was so shocked with this breakthrough done by Hadiono where the professor himself said, "We did not think that even a biotechnology graduate student could make this into a reality." The mini-bioreactor that Hadiono designed is undoubtedly more efficient than of the conventional bioreactors.

Advantage Over Conventional Bioreactors

It has been reportedly said that it can store more than two-folds of mini-brains which is considered its greatest advantage over the conventional bioreactors. Talking about the cost, the mini-bioreactor that they called SpinΩ, roughly costs $400 each while the conventional bioreactors cost $2000 each. Even with its small structure, the SpinΩ can grow mini-brains for about three months and can make the mini-brains last long for about six months which is just about the same as conventional bioreactors.

Another advantage of SpinΩ's increased productivity in producing mini-brains (brain organoids) can greatly help the innovation of pharmaceutical drugs for neurological conditions because they can perform several experiments and testing at once to assess the effects of the drugs to the mini brains.

Application and Patenting

According to Spectrumnews, Song and his team filed a provisional patent for the invention to protect their ideas in developing the device. In the current time, Song and his team are making use of the SpinΩ in his lab at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore to study on how the Zika virus affects the developing brain physically.

They revealed on how the virus can cause a microcephaly. The Zika virus attacks the neural stem cells and killing them which results in a thinning brain structure starting in the fourth month of brain development.

After the time that Hadiono spent in Song's lab in developing the SpinΩ, he is now back in New York and enrolled himself at Case Western Reserve University in Ohio to study an engineering course.