Tiny bare-bones brains made in lab dishes

Simpler version of minibrains responsive enough to use for drug testing

minibrain

MODEL BRAIN In this minibrain, nerve cells (red) knit themselves together and send messages. Cell nuclei are shown in blue.  

Johns Hopkins Center for Alternatives to Animal Testing

WASHINGTON — Tiny orbs of brain cells swirling in lab dishes may offer scientists a better way to study the complexities of the human brain.