Alzheimer’s Organoids

Alzheimer’s disease is an age-related and often debilitating form of dementia. While a diagnosis of Alzheimer’s generally occurs late in life, the contributing neurodegenerative pathology may begin earlier. To investigate such pathological changes, scientists have been studying human stem cell-derived cerebral organoids – like the one pictured (with neurons coloured red) – made from the cells of people with and without early-onset familial Alzheimer’s. One striking difference was the reduced production of an anti-inflammatory protein called thymosin β4 (Tβ4) in the Alzheimer’s organoids. And, studies of post-mortem Alzheimer’s brain samples revealed similarly low levels of the protein. Importantly, boosting Tβ4 levels in the Alzheimer’s organoids lessened the build-up of amyloid protein – a marker of the disease. Moreover, boosting the protein in Alzheimer’s model mice reduced not only amyloid build-up but also brain inflammation – another feature of the disease – providing hope that this approach might be a translatable treatment strategy.

Written by Ruth Williams

Ruth Williams

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Ruth is a freelance science journalist based in the US. She's a regular correspondent for The Scientist, and her work has appeared in The Lancet, Nature, Scientific American Mind, BBC Focus and elsewhere. Twitter @rooph

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• Image from work by Peng-Ming Zeng and colleagues
• School of Life Science and Technology & State Key Laboratory of Advanced Medical Materials and Devices, ShanghaiTech University, Shanghai, China
• Image originally published with a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0)
• Published in Stem Cell Reports, August 2025