Honorable Mention: Growing Human Neurons

Photography by Ritvik Kesharaju, undergraduate student,
FAU Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute

Stem cells are cells in the body from which all other specialized body cells are produced. This photo depicts human neurons grown in the lab from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), which hold great promise as the cure for Alzheimer's disease and other neurodegenerative diseases. The goal behind this image was to explore the use of graphene nanoflakes (GNFs) to enrich cholesterol in neuronal membranes and understand how this can improve neuron maturation and connectivity. These neurons were imaged using a Nikon widefield fluorescence microscope in the laboratory of Qi Zhang, Ph.D., assistant research professor, Stiles-Nicholson Brain Institute. This image displays the graphene-treated neurons at 40x magnification, one month after initial treatment began. Cells were stained with Tuj1 fluorescence dye, which stains the neurites green, and DAPI fluorescence dye, which stains cell nuclei blue. Ultimately, we believe that GNFs may hold the key to improving scientists' ability to obtain iPSC-derived human neurons with functional synapses.