Webinar: Human 3D Brain Models for Neurodegenerative Disease Research

Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and related dementias remain among the most urgent and challenging areas in translational neuroscience. While genetic risk factors such as APOE4 and rare disease-causing mutations have been strongly associated with neurodegenerative vulnerability, researchers still face a critical gap: how can these genetic signals be translated into human-relevant mechanisms, actionable therapeutic targets, and more predictive preclinical models?

Join Creative Biolabs for an expert-led webinar featuring Joel W. Blanchard, PhD, Associate Professor in the Nash Family Department of Neuroscience and the Department of Cell, Developmental & Regenerative Biology at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai. Dr. Blanchard will share how his laboratory engineers multicellular, stem cell-derived 3D human brain tissues to model key aspects of neurodegeneration in a physiologically relevant human context.

This webinar is designed for researchers and industry professionals working in neurodegenerative disease, 3D biology, organoid technology, disease modeling, drug discovery, biomarker research, and translational neuroscience.

Why Attend?

Conventional 2D cell culture and animal models often fail to capture the complexity of human brain biology, especially when studying disease mechanisms involving genetic vulnerability, glial dysfunction, cerebrovascular remodeling, and blood-brain barrier disruption. Human 3D brain models offer a powerful path forward by enabling researchers to study disease-relevant cell-cell interactions, tissue architecture, and functional mechanisms in a more human-relevant system.

In this webinar, Dr. Blanchard will discuss how engineered human brain models can reveal disease mechanisms that are difficult to access using traditional systems and how these platforms may help identify new therapeutic vulnerabilities for Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, and related neurodegenerative disorders.

What You Will Learn

During this webinar, you will gain insights into:

• How multicellular, stem cell-derived 3D human brain tissues can be engineered to model neurodegeneration
• Why human-relevant 3D models are increasingly important for bridging the gap between conventional preclinical systems and clinical translation
• How a rare genetic mutation associated with severe juvenile Parkinson's disease reveals a lysosome-polyamine-epigenetic axis of neurodegeneration
• How APOE4 may promote α-synuclein co-pathology through glial dysfunction
• How APOE4 contributes to cerebrovascular remodeling and blood-brain barrier dysfunction in Alzheimer's disease
• How organoid and brain-on-a-chip strategies can support mechanism discovery, therapeutic evaluation, and precision medicine approaches
• How 3D biology platforms may be applied to biomarker discovery, drug discovery and development, and toxicity evaluation

Who Should Attend?

This webinar is especially relevant for:

• Neuroscience researchers studying Alzheimer's disease, Parkinson's disease, dementia, or neurodegeneration
• Scientists working with organoids, brain-on-a-chip models, iPSC-derived systems, or 3D tissue models
• Drug discovery and translational research teams seeking more predictive human-relevant disease models
• Researchers investigating APOE4, α-synuclein pathology, glial biology, neurovascular interactions, or blood-brain barrier dysfunction
• Biotech and pharmaceutical R&D teams developing CNS therapeutics
• Academic and industry professionals interested in 3D biology-based biomarker discovery, toxicity evaluation, and preclinical validation