“This book would not have been possible without …” might often seem like a piece of formulaic hyperbole, but it is certainly not in this case. I can safely say that I could not myself have grown a brain organoid from a piece of my arm, and until I first met Selina Wray of University College London I didn’t even know it was possible. She and Chris Lovejoy have been immensely supportive, welcoming and generous in sharing their knowledge and skills about this astonishing process, and I am deeply grateful to them for starting me on the journey.
The impetus for the Brains in the Dish project came from artist Charlie Murphy, whose energy and imagination helped to see it through. Charlie’s own responses to the experience, rendered mostly in glass objects of great delicacy and beauty, are inspiring. Thanks also to Ross Paterson for doing the dirty (in fact, of course, clinically clean) work of taking the biopsy.
There’s also a “without whom …” element to the broader story. It was a huge pleasure and honour to be involved in Created Out of Mind, the residency at the Hub in the Wellcome Collection, London, for 2016–18. That ambitious project was led, with tremendous flair, patience, vision and good humour, by Seb Crutch of UCL, to whom I am full of gratitude for inviting me to be a part of the team working to change perceptions of dementia and to improve the lives and the care of people living with it. That team was a joy to work with, and included Caroline Evans, Kailey Nolan, Emilie Brotherhood, Janette Junghaus, Harriet Martin, Julian West, Paul Camic, Fergus Walsh, Nick Fox, Gill Windle, Susanna Howard, Charlie Harrison, Hannah Zeilig, Millie van der Byl Williams, Tony Woods, Bridie Rollins and, oh goodness, I have probably forgotten others I should mention or who I never managed to meet, for which I ask their forgiveness.
I received advice from many experts in the course of preparing this book, as well as in writing some of the articles that informed it. Sometimes they will not have known (as I did not then know) that this is where their knowledge and wisdom would end up. Others kindly agreed to look at parts of the text and put right what I had wrong. Others supplied important materials for the research. They include Kristin Baldwin, Buzz Baum, Martin Birchall, Ali Brivanlou, Dan Davis, Sarah Franklin, Hank Greely, Ronald Green, Allon Klein, Christof Koch, Madeline Lancaster, Jennifer Lewis, Alison Murdoch, Werner Neuhausser, Brigitte Nerlich, Kathy Niakan, Andrew Reynolds, Adam Rutherford, Mitinori Saitou, Anil Seth, Marta Shahbazi, Deepak Srivastava, Azim Surani and Joseph Vacanti. Once again they have reminded me of how generous busy scientists and writers almost invariably are.
My editors in the UK and USA have given consistently smart advice, for which I owe many thanks to Hazel Eriksson, Myles Archibald and Karen Merikangas Darling. Karen obtained some thoughtful and helpful reviews whose anonymous authors I thank too. And I’m not sure what I would do without the support, encouragement and belief of my agent Clare Alexander, but it would probably involve finding another line of work.
Frankly, we’re living through some grim times. The research and ideas I describe in this book create some alarming and disturbing possibilities, but they also speak – to me – of the determination of many folks to try to make things better, and of their ingenuity in that quest. It’s never felt more vital, though, to receive support, companionship and love from my friends and family. I’m lucky to have that, and I am thankful.
Philip Ball
London, 2018