Neuroscientists develop human brain-like technology that can accelerate understanding of Alzheimer's, other neurodegenerative diseases

Houston Methodist neuroscientists have developed a first-of-its-kind method to rapidly produce synchronized, human brain wave-like activity in lab-grown neural networks that can communicate over long distances. This innovation offers researchers a powerful tool to study how brain connectivity is affected in neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s and to explore potential treatments. 

The study was led by Dr. Robert Krencik, associate professor in the Center for Neuroregeneration and Department of Neurosurgery at the Houston Methodist Research Institute, and was recently published in Advanced Healthcare Materials. 

“A major advantage of our approach is that we can mix and match these biological neural networks into more complex structures, similar to using Lego building blocks, enabling us to study interactions between healthy and diseased tissue.” Krencik said. “To test the new tool’s potential, we treated the biological ‘Asteroid Belts’ with toxic molecules like oxidative stressors and amyloid beta protein, which are linked to Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s, respectively.” 

When Krencik’s team did this, the damaged networks stopped functioning properly and blocked signals from spreading between healthy networks. However, if one Asteroid within the Asteroid Belt was treated with mild amounts of toxin, the healthy networks were able to propagate through the mildly diseased network.  

The team combined neural cells in an organ-like cluster, known as organoids, together with star-shaped cells called astrocytes, in a final product named Asteroids. These optimized Asteroids rapidly produced synchronized neural networks in only a few weeks—far faster than previous methods. Additionally, by merging several of these networks together in a structure named Asteroid Belts, the researchers observed long-distance propagation of this activity within 24 hours, mimicking how signals travel long distances in the human brain.    

Krencik said this offers a new way to study factors that influence brain wave-like activity and could guide strategies for integrating healthy cells into diseased networks for therapy. 

“The single most surprising finding in the study was the restoration of synchronous network activity through an otherwise dysregulated diseased network. This gave us hope regarding the use of healthy networks to repair function through neighboring unhealthy tissue,” Krencik said. “This is a next-generation tool for neuroscientists to test how disease and potential therapeutics can affect brain network activity at the functional level.”  

According to the Alzheimer’s Association, Texas had nearly 460,000 adults over 65 living with Alzheimer’s disease in 2024. Neurodegenerative disorders, such as Alzheimer’s disease and Parkinson’s disease, involve miscommunication between distant brain regions, leading to cognitive decline and motor impairment. The tools developed by Krencik and his team now allow scientists to study how this breakdown occurs and to test strategies that protect or restore connectivity. 

Krencik’s collaborators on this study were Megh Patel, Sailee Lavekar, Ronak Jaisalmeria, Suki Oji, Jazmine Jayasi and Caroline Cvetkovic. 

The study was supported by National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke grant R01NS12978 and Philanthropic funding from Paula and Rusty Walter and Walter Oil & Gas Corp Endowment at Houston Methodist.