May 2, 2016
Scientists turn skin cells into heart and brain cells using only drugs — no stem cells required
Posted by Shailesh Prasad in categories: bioengineering, biotech/medical, genetics, neuroscience
Neurons created from chemically induced neural stem cells. The cells were created from skin cells that were reprogrammed into neural stem cells using a cocktail of only nine chemicals. This is the first time cellular reprogramming has been accomplished without adding external genes to the cells. (credit: Mingliang Zhang, PhD, Gladstone Institutes)
Scientists at the Gladstone Institutes have used chemicals to transform skin cells into heart cells and brain cells, instead of adding external genes — making this accomplishment a breakthrough, according to the scientists.
