Zika is test case for brain organoid mini-reactors

(Cell Press) The Zika virus epidemic comes at a time when new stem cell techniques for studying the brain are being refined and tested. On April 22 in Cell, Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine researchers unveil brain-region-specific organoids that show in three dimensions how the virus affects the human brain. The organoid data support that Zika prefers to infect neural stem cells and that the extent of damage differs depending on time of infection.