Five Questions With: Diane Hoffman-Kim

Diane Hoffman-Kim is associate professor of medical science and engineering at Brown University. Her focus is on the development of biomaterials and tissue engineering with the ultimate goal of nerve regeneration.
Diane Hoffman-Kim is associate professor of medical science and engineering at Brown University. Her focus is on the development of biomaterials and tissue engineering with the ultimate goal of nerve regeneration.

Diane Hoffman-Kim is associate professor of medical science and engineering in the Department of Molecular Pharmacology, Physiology and Biotechnology and the Center for Biomedical Engineering at Brown University. Her focus is on the development of biomaterials and tissue engineering with the ultimate goal of nerve regeneration. She was lead author on a recent study showing how miniature brains, known as “mini-brains,” can be developed in the laboratory for research purposes at surprisingly low cost. The mini-brains permit researchers to create what are called “test beds” to explore treatment for a number of conditions.

PBN: How are mini-brains like, and unlike, fully functioning, full-sized brains?
HOFFMAN-KIM:
Mini-brains are like fully functioning, full-sized brains in several ways that are important for research advances: They contain similar types of cells; similar numbers of cells per cubic millimeter; similar physical structures, including 3-D structure, stiffness, and brain structural proteins; and similar electrical activity and connectivity. Mini-brains are unlike fully functioning, full-sized brains because they are smaller, differently shaped, and they do not have the same complex organization and connectivity to the rest of the body that give rise to sophisticated functions, including cognition, movement and language.

PBN: To what extent was the motivation to develop mini-brains a desire not to rely as heavily on animal testing?
HOFFMAN-KIM:
So many excellent ideas in science are considered high-risk, high-reward. Increasing scientists’ abilities to try out their best ideas while decreasing some of the use of animal models is a strong motivation. With the mini-brains, the tissue from a single animal can generate 1,000 test beds, which we believe is a significant reduction.

PBN: How strong has the response been to the paper from other researchers around the world?
HOFFMAN-KIM:
The response has been quite positive. We have been invited to present the work, and we have corresponded with interested researchers and science writers from around the world, including Brazil, Canada, Germany, Israel, Spain and, of course, Providence.

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PBN: How can mini-brains be used to improve treatment for Parkinson’s disease?
HOFFMAN-KIM:
Using mini-brains as a testbed, we could explore possible treatments for Parkinson’s disease that are complicated to evaluate in other models. One example is cell transplantation, where potentially therapeutic cells can be transplanted into many mini-brains to figure out the optimal conditions for their success.

PBN: What are the other most promising ways that mini-brains may be used for other medical research?
HOFFMAN-KIM:
We are excited about the potential for generating mini-brains using brain cells made from stem cells. We know that one person may respond differently than another person to a drug or medical therapy. These specialized mini-brains could potentially open the door to patient-specific drug discovery and therapy testing.

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