Small-Molecule Cocktail for Rapid Maturation of Human Neurons

A major application of neurons derived from human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is to model neurological or psychiatric diseases for use as a drug discovery platform. Most phenotypes of neurological and psychiatric diseases arise in mature neurons. However, human iPSCs-derived neurons can take 1-3 months to reach full functional maturation, and yet manipulating the neuronal cultures for even 2 weeks in
384-well plates is cumbersome. Therefore, the substantial time required for achieving maturation is a severe hurdle for taking full advantage of human neurons as drug discovery platforms.