3D culture of dopaminergic neurons to better mimic Parkinson’s disease

SysMedPD member Prof. Dr Jens Schwamborn and his colleagues from the Luxembourg Centre for Systems Biomedicine (LCSB) of the University of Luxembourg have developed a novel in vitro model to test drug candidates against Parkinson’s disease (PD).

The identification of promising drug candidates in preclinical research and the development of personalized precision medicine is hindered by the lack of sufficiently representative in vitro models. This is particularly true in the case of PD, a complex neurodegenerative disorder. In order to offer an alternative to the existing tools, the researchers have been working on cell cultures in 3D. Their results show that cells cultivated in a 3D system recapitulate key features of PD.  The use of such advanced 3D in vitro models will support both patient stratification and tailored drug development.

Read more about the exciting results on LCSB’s website or the full article published in Advanced Science.