The Living Brain Project

What can living brain tissue reveal that decades of neuroscience could not? 

In this episode of The Vitals, host Leslie Schlachter sits down with Alex Charney and Brian Kopell to discuss the Living Brain Project, one of the most ambitious neuroscience efforts underway at the Mount Sinai Health System. By safely collecting tiny biopsies during deep brain simulation surgery, researchers are studying the living human brain in ways previously thought impossible. 

The conversation explores why living brain tissue differs dramatically from postmortem samples, how this research is already helping validate next-generation gene therapies, and why collaboration between neurosurgeons and molecular scientists may unlock entirely new treatments for neurological and psychiatric disease. 

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