There’s research with a scary factor again. Scientists at Stanford University have grown lentil-sized beads from human brain tissue and planted these brain organoids in the brains of growing rats. The human cells fitted in perfectly, they even had a say in the behavior of the rats: when they applied a stimulus, the animals began to lick.
One may read of these experiments with uneasiness. Could such a piece of brain give the rat something human? Shouldn’t one urgently intervene and ban such horror research?
No, at least not yet. In fact, this type of research has enormous potential. Scientists can use this technology to study diseases of the brain that are otherwise hardly accessible to research. Rats don’t get schizophrenia or obsessive-compulsive disorder, so animal testing isn’t enough. And in cell culture, the brain organoids are not supplied with enough blood to be able to answer complex questions.
The more human-like the models become, the more problems arise
And so is the Leopoldina, Germany’s national science academy, in a recently published statement concluded that there is no immediate threat to ethics and morals. The complexity of these organoids is still far too small for “even the slightest hint of consciousness to arise,” says ethics professor Bettina Schöne-Seifert from the University of Münster, one of the authors.
But of course the mixing of man and rat also opens up frightening perspectives. Research will advance, and the more human-like the models become, the more problems will arise. Real rat-human hybrids, in which an increasingly human brain takes control of an animal and even gives it consciousness or a changed perception of pain – these are Frankenstein experiments that are forbidden because of the protection claims of humans and animals.
It is therefore important that ethicists and citizens look closely at this research. But as long as the researchers are doing experiments like this: Go ahead! It would even be unethical to ban something that opens up such great opportunities for patients and is not problematic beyond a certain shudder. Not everything that is new and unusual and has a scary factor at first listen is really good for scaring.