Uploaded April 2026 | Updated September 2026, 2 weeks ago
What can living brain tissue reveal that decades of neuroscience could not?
In this episode of The Vitals, host Leslie Schlachter sits down with Alex Charney and Brian Kopell to discuss the Living Brain Project, one of the most ambitious neuroscience efforts underway at the Mount Sinai Health System. By safely collecting tiny biopsies during deep brain simulation surgery, researchers are studying the living human brain in ways previously thought impossible.
The conversation explores why living brain tissue differs dramatically from postmortem samples, how this research is already helping validate next-generation gene therapies, and why collaboration between neurosurgeons and molecular scientists may unlock entirely new treatments for neurological and psychiatric disease.
To learn more about The Living Brain Project, please visit:
https://icahn.mssm.edu/research/friedman/living-brain
To learn more about or book an appointment with The Center for Neuromodulation, please visit: mountsinai.org/locations/center-neuromodulation
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00:01:27 — Why psychiatry and neurology overlap
00:05:05 — A major game-changer
00:10:34 — Introduction: the Living Brain Project
00:16:54 — Surgical approach and rationale
00:23:03 — Early key result
00:24:37 — Major discovery: Brain differences
00:32:06 — The “moonshot"
00:47:00 — Misinformation highlighted
What can living brain tissue reveal that decades of neuroscience could not?
In this episode of The Vitals, host Leslie Schlachter sits down with Alex Charney and Brian Kopell to discuss the Living Brain Project, one of the most ambitious neuroscience efforts underway at the Mount Sinai Health System. By safely collecting tiny biopsies during deep brain simulation surgery, researchers are studying the living human brain in ways previously thought impossible.
The conversation explores why living brain tissue differs dramatically from postmortem samples, how this research is already helping validate next-generation gene therapies, and why collaboration between neurosurgeons and molecular scientists may unlock entirely new treatments for neurological and psychiatric disease.
To learn more about The Living Brain Project, please visit:
https://icahn.mssm.edu/research/friedman/living-brain
To learn more about or book an appointment with The Center for Neuromodulation, please visit: mountsinai.org/locations/center-neuromodulation
--------------------------------------------
00:01:27 — Why psychiatry and neurology overlap
00:05:05 — A major game-changer
00:10:34 — Introduction: the Living Brain Project
00:16:54 — Surgical approach and rationale
00:23:03 — Early key result
00:24:37 — Major discovery: Brain differences
00:32:06 — The “moonshot"
00:47:00 — Misinformation highlighted
