Source: Penn State University / Salk Institute for Biological Studies
Date: April 13, 2011
Summary:
A team of scientists at Penn State, the Salk Institute for Biological Studies, and other institutions have developed a method for recreating a schizophrenic patient's own brain cells, which then can be studied safely and effectively in a Petri dish. The method brings researchers a step closer to understanding the biological underpinnings of schizophrenia. The method also is expected to be used to study other mysterious diseases such as autism and bipolar disorder, and the researchers hope that it will open the door to personalized medicine -- customized treatments for individual sufferers of a disease based on genetic and cellular information.
The study will be published in a future edition of the journal Nature and will be posted on the journal's advance online website on April 13.
