Stem Cell Derived Human Neurons in CNS Drug Discovery

Central nervous system disorders affect many people worldwide. To increase the quality and number of drugs available for treatments of CNS disorders such as Alzheimer’s, schizophrenia and anxiety, the success rate of CNS drug discovery programmes must be improved. The challenge in drug discovery is to develop more relevant assay systems to identify lead compounds for further development. Cell based screening assays currently used for CNS drug development involve primary cells or commercially available cell lines, both of which have many disadvantages. Here, we have overcome these limitations by generating unlimited supplies of physiologically relevant neurons from human stem cells. These neurons can be successfully maniplulated and used in CNS drug discovery programmes to identify lead candidate compounds and limit the need for in vivo experimentation.