Magnetic Nanoparticle Mediated Alignment of the Internal Architecture of Brain Organoids for Parkinson's disease modelling.

Parkinson’s Disease (PD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder affecting over 150,000 people in the UK in 2023, with prevalence projected to rise to 173,000 by 2030. Beyond classical motor symptoms, PD patients suffer from falls, swallowing and speech impairments, depression, and anxiety. Current pharmacological treatments have limited ability to modify disease progression. Whilst cell therapy techniques have been developed as an alternative to pharmaceutical interventions, these techniques have shown limited efficacy to date. This project aims to use iron oxide magnetic nanoparticles (MNP) to directionally influence axon growth on induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) derived neurons and brain organoids to help understand and address challenges in cell therapy for PD. Functional changes in neurons and organoids subjected to MNP mediated forces will be characterised using high throughput micro electrode array (MEA) analysis, spatially resolved single cell transcriptomics, RNA sequencing and proteomics. Engineering structurally textured organoids relevant for PD research will enhance their physiological relevance for producing structured cell therapy grafts with improved integration potential.