BRAIN organoids unTanglement with SERS

Neuropsychiatric disorders and neurological diseases have a devastating impact on patients’ lives and represent a heavy social and economic load for global societies.

Despite the great social and economic importance, the complex symptomatology together with the lack of objective analysis methodology and the limitation of current biological models have made disorders difficult to classify and study.

The recent development of brain organoids derived from human stem cells have enormous potential as a physiologically accurate downscaled in vitro model of the human brain.

Even though this system offers promising approach for investigating the phenotypic foundation of these complex disorders, the lack of a reliable and non-disruptive system for investigating their properties limits their applicability in both basic research and pharmaceutical testing.

The BRAINtSERS project aims to respond to this need combining advanced brain organoid models together with surface-enhanced Raman spectroscopy (SERS), providing a multidimensional dataset of a developing human neuronal tissue resolved both in time and space.

In detail, the action will provide: (i) a label-free, highly sensitive technique for quantification and detection of biomolecules in brain organoids, (ii) a minimally-invasive system for cellular phenotyping, thus a non-destructive method for characterization of brain organoids during all developmental stages.

Complementarily, the ER will deliver (iii) SERS-active bio-mimetic devices conceived for integration with organoid model and its genesis.