Researchers directly turn mouse skin cells into neurons, skipping IPS stage
Wednesday, January 27, 2010 - 13:21
in Biology & Nature
Even Superman needed to retire to a phone booth for a quick change. But now scientists at the Stanford University School of Medicine have succeeded in the ultimate switch: transforming mouse skin cells in a laboratory dish directly into functional nerve cells with the application of just three genes. The cells make the change without first becoming a pluripotent type of stem cell -- a step long thought to be required for cells to acquire new identities.