Indianapolis, Indiana – Indiana University researchers are pushing Alzheimer’s research into new territory by building simplified, living models of the human brain—using something as accessible as a small blood sample. The work blends medical science, engineering, and computing in a way that is giving scientists a clearer look at how the disease develops and why it disrupts memory and thinking.
Alzheimer’s disease, along with related forms of dementia, currently affects about 7.2 million Americans. In Indiana alone, roughly one in ten residents over the age of 65 lives with the condition. As the population ages, the numbers continue to rise, placing growing strain not only on patients but also on families, caregivers, and the health care system.
At the center of Indiana University’s effort are brain organoids—tiny clusters of cells that mimic key structures of the human brain. First developed about a decade ago, organoids have rapidly changed neuroscience by allowing researchers to observe brain-like activity in ways that were not previously possible. Unlike traditional lab models, these living systems can reflect real human genetics and disease behavior.
What makes IU’s work especially powerful is how these organoids are created. Scientists grow them from blood samples taken from Alzheimer’s patients and healthy individuals. This allows researchers to compare how disease-related genetic changes affect brain development and function. The blood samples are collected through the IU School of Medicine, the nation’s largest medical school, and processed using advanced techniques developed across IU campuses in Bloomington, Indianapolis, and Terre Haute.
Leading the initiative is Jason Meyer, a professor at the IU School of Medicine and director of the $16.5 million MPS-AD center. The center is one of only two in the United States dedicated to studying Alzheimer’s disease using brain organoids.
“New treatments will have a huge impact on the day-to-day lives of people living with Alzheimer’s or taking care of someone with Alzheimer’s,” said Meyer, whose great-grandmother lived with the disease. “This is a condition that not only affects the person with it over many years but also their families and caregivers.”
Unlike heart disease and stroke, whose rates have declined due to advances in treatment and prevention, Alzheimer’s continues to rise. It is now the sixth leading cause of death among adults over 65 in the United States. Researchers say this trend makes new approaches to understanding and treating the disease especially urgent.
Indiana University’s work builds on decades of strength in Alzheimer’s research. That reputation has attracted global attention and investment, including visits from prominent figures like Bill Gates and partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies such as Eli Lilly and Company. These collaborations have helped fund multiple research centers focused on Alzheimer’s, from identifying early biological changes to discovering new drug targets.
One of IU’s most valuable assets is its biorepository, the nation’s largest facility for storing biological samples from Alzheimer’s patients. Samples are preserved at ultra-low temperatures and retrieved using robotic systems, ensuring consistency and quality. This repository supplies the blood used to grow brain organoids and will also serve as a distribution hub for other researchers who want to study Alzheimer’s using IU-developed models.
While medical science provides the foundation, engineering plays a critical role in turning blood cells into reliable brain models. At IU Bloomington, Feng Guo and his team at the Luddy School of Informatics, Computing and Engineering are tackling the technical challenges of growing organoids in a controlled and repeatable way.
Growing brain organoids is delicate work. Small changes in temperature, nutrients, or timing can lead cells down the wrong developmental path, sometimes forming unintended structures like retinal tissue. To reduce that risk, Guo’s lab has developed automated microfluidic systems powered by artificial intelligence. These systems carefully guide cell growth using microscopic channels and structures that help standardize results.
The collaboration reflects IU’s broader philosophy of engineering as a tool for improving human health. By combining engineering precision with medical insight, the team is creating brain models that are not only biologically relevant but also consistent enough for large-scale research.
Guo is also applying his expertise in biocomputing, an emerging field that explores how biological systems process information. In this work, multiple brain organoids are connected into networks, allowing researchers to observe how signals move through the system.
By comparing organoids grown from healthy individuals with those grown from Alzheimer’s patients, researchers can see differences in how information is processed. These differences may explain why people with Alzheimer’s struggle with memory, learning, and pattern recognition.
“Brain organoids can provide real insights into differences in how the brain processes information, which research indicates is impaired in individuals with Alzheimer’s disease,” Guo said. “Our early results suggest that healthy organoids are better at pattern separation than Alzheimer’s disease organoids.”
This system also offers a promising new way to test potential drug treatments. If a compound causes an Alzheimer’s organoid to behave more like a healthy one, it becomes a candidate for deeper study. Researchers say this could speed up the early stages of drug discovery and reduce reliance on less accurate models.
The work is supported by IU LAB, the university’s bioscience incubator that connects academic research with industry partners. Through IU LAB, Meyer and Guo are helping turn experimental ideas into tools that can be widely shared across the scientific community.
Other IU researchers are already using the same organoid technology to study additional neurological conditions. At the Gill Institute for Neuroscience in Bloomington, one scientist is applying organoids to explore new treatments for drug addiction. Elsewhere, researchers are using them to test experimental drugs, identify chemical markers of Alzheimer’s, and examine how the disease affects the brain’s protective barriers.
Within the MPS-AD center, scientists are also studying how Alzheimer’s alters communication between different brain regions and how those changes ripple through cognitive systems. By observing these effects in organoids, researchers can isolate specific mechanisms that would be difficult to study in patients.
The long-term goal is to make IU a global hub for organoid-based Alzheimer’s research. Rather than keeping the technology confined to one lab, Meyer’s team is preparing standardized organoids that other researchers can request and use in their own experiments.
“We’re engineering organoids that other labs can request and use, ready to go for experiments,” Meyer said. “By generating fully functional organoids for the research community, IU’s work will speed the scientific process and get us all closer to new solutions to this disease.”
Researchers say the approach could transform how neurological diseases are studied worldwide. By combining patient-derived biology, precise engineering, and advanced computing, IU’s work is opening doors to discoveries that were once out of reach.
As Alzheimer’s continues to affect millions of families, the ability to model the disease more accurately offers renewed hope. While treatments remain limited, the insights gained from these tiny brain models could guide the next generation of therapies—and bring science closer to easing the burden of one of the most challenging diseases of our time.
