Mice with human brain tissue? Stanford’s unusual Xenocortical mice experiment explained

Stanford scientists have created mice with nearly 92 per cent of their cortical tissue derived from human stem cells. The experiment, published in Nature, could help researchers study brain development and disorders such as autism, epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

Scientists at Stanford University have developed an unusual way to study the human brain. They have created mice in which laboratory-grown human brain tissue occupies nearly 92 per cent of the cortical tissue. The cerebral cortex is the outer part of the brain involved in thinking, memory and decision-making. The experiment could help researchers understand how human brain cells develop and what happens when neurological disorders affect them.

The findings, published in the journal Nature on September 16, 2026, describe animals called “xenocortical mice”. Researchers used human stem cells to grow small clusters of brain tissue and transplanted them into mice genetically engineered to develop without most of their cerebral cortex. The human tissue grew........

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