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Perhaps with stem cells, genetic engineering like CRISPR, or just cellular extraction and harvesting/reproduction in some way, we could isolate and incubate a single neuron in an artificial environment, for example, a Petri dish or something similar.

Has anyone succeeded in doing so for some N number of neurons and connecting them via the synapses, as they are in the brain?

And then, trying to stimulate some of the neurons and exploring if that neural network can be used for anything, or used to study how the greater brain works?

Thank you

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    $\begingroup$ OP -- Have you tried searching for answers yourself? What did you find so far and what can we help you with? $\endgroup$
    – AliceD ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 10:02
  • $\begingroup$ Those were some pretty helpful answers, I’d support restoring them personally. I haven’t bothered Googling it because I find Google results to be messy and disorganized and my understanding is Stack Exchange posts are meant to be public, canonical answers to questions. I’m not interested in what Google has to offer, unless there’s a Wikipedia page discussing this specific topic. I’m looking for specific techniques or procedures that make this possible. Thank you $\endgroup$
    – Julius Hamilton
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 10:48
  • $\begingroup$ That's the problem of people answering in the comments... Google is a search engine you should use to read about the topic. Google scholar is a good option. That way, you can focus the question, making it easier for us to provide you with a good answer. $\endgroup$
    – AliceD ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 11:35
  • $\begingroup$ An example from the words mentioned in the title: scholar.google.com/… The problem with asking a question with the breadth of yours is you're pretty much asking someone to do a literature review, and we tend to frown on things like that; a literature review is an entire project, and people can publish the result of that project in a scientific paper. It's kind of like asking for someone to write your software for you. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 15:14
  • $\begingroup$ I understand that's not your intent and you're coming from the perspective of a simple question, but that's why it helps to read first (and present what you've read/found already) so you can focus on what question remains. $\endgroup$
    – Bryan Krause ♦
    Commented Mar 17, 2022 at 15:16

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A cerebral organoid, or brain organoid, describes an artificially grown, in vitro, miniature organ resembling the brain.

Lancaster, et al. (2013) states:

We have developed a human pluripotent stem cell-derived 3D organoid culture system, termed cerebral organoid, which develops various discrete though interdependent brain regions. These include cerebral cortex containing progenitor populations that organize and produce mature cortical neuron subtypes. Furthermore, cerebral organoids recapitulate features of human cortical development, namely characteristic progenitor zone organization with abundant outer radial glial stem cells.

Reference

Lancaster, M. A., Renner, M., Martin, C. A., Wenzel, D., Bicknell, L. S., Hurles, M. E., ... & Knoblich, J. A. (2013). Cerebral organoids model human brain development and microcephaly. Nature, 501(7467), 373-379. https://doi.org/10.1038/nature12517

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