Why human brain cells grow so slowly

Growing human neurons in the lab can be a timeconsuming process. Some cortical cells take years to reach maturity many times slower than the equivalent cells in a mouse. Researchers have been exploring some of the mechanisms that could be behind these very different timescales of growth and have found a kind of epigenetic braking effect that slows maturation. Manipulating this brake could allow scientists to speed up the study of older brain cells in a dish. Read the paper: