William Atkins
Friday, 29 January 2010 02:20
Science -
Biology
Page 1 of 3
U.S. researchers have turned skin cells in mice into functioning nerve cells with the use of only three genes and without the need of the stem cell phase. These nerve cells function similar to neurons in the brain and could be used in the future to replace damaged tissues in humans.
The January 27, 2010 article by Stanford University’s School of Medicine called “
Dramatic transformation: Researchers directly turn mouse skin cells into neurons, skipping IPS stage” relates the story about this exiting advancement in medicine.
Scientists from the Stanford University’s School of Medicine announced Wednesday, January 27, 2010, that they had turned skin cells of mice into brain cells—and the process took less then one week to complete.
The Stanford article states,
“… 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.”The summary of the research was published online on January 27, 2010, in the journal
Nature. Its authors, all from Stanford University’s School of Medicine, are Dr. Marius Wernig, Thomas Vierbuchen, Thomas Südhof, Austin Ostermeier, Zhiping Pang, and Yuko Kokubu.
Its title is “
Direct conversion of fibroblasts to functional neurons by defined factors” (doi:10.1038/nature08797).
Dr.
Marius Wernig, one of the Stanford researchers involved in the study, stated,
“We actively and directly induced one cell type to become a completely different cell type.” [Stanford]
Page two continues with Dr. Wernig's quote.
