Source: University of Edinburgh
Date: 24 May 2010
Summary:
University of Edinburgh researchers are leading a study that will enable them to model motor neurone disease in the laboratory.
The research focuses on a gene which, while causes motor neuron disease in a small group of inherited cases, is believed to be relevant to more than 90 per cent of cases. Scientists will model motor neurone disease in a dish by taking skin cells from patients with the hereditary TDP-43 form of the disease.
The skin cells are reprogrammed to create induced pluripotent stem cells. These are similar to embryonic stem cells, which have the ability to form different cells in the body. The cells will be differentiated to form motor neurones as well as support cells, which are believed to play a key role in the spread of the disease spread.
