Clive Cookson, Science Editor MARCH 25 2021
Researchers in Cambridge have identified a key genetic switch that ensures humans develop much bigger brains than apes, an important step in the scientific understanding of neural development.
The team at the MRC Laboratory of Molecular Biology led by Madeline Lancaster made the discovery after comparing so-called mini-brains grown from human, gorilla and chimpanzee stem-cells. Mini-brains, known more formally as cerebral organoids, are pea-sized neural assemblages grown in laboratories that mimic aspects of real brains.