Stem cell models for biomarker discovery in brain disease

Abstract

Most brain diseases arise from interactions between complex genetic and environmental risk factors. Finding biomarkers for brain diseases will require appropriate cellular models to identify dysregulated cell functions and diseaseassociated biochemistries. Patient-derived stem cells hold great potential as models of brain diseases. Stem cells can proliferate and can be banked, stored, and thawed for genomic, proteomic, and functional studies. Patient-derived, induced pluripotent stem cells and adult stem cells from the olfactory organ in the nose are already giving novel insights into a number of brain diseases, including Parkinson's disease and schizophrenia. Biomarker discovery may be possible from investigating disease-associated cell biologies in patient-derived stem cells.