Source: Harvard University
Date: August 26, 2011
Summary:
A team of Harvard stem cell researchers has succeeded in reprogramming adult mouse skin cells directly into the type of motor neurons damaged in amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS), best known as Lou Gehrig’s disease, and spinal muscular atrophy (SMA). These new cells, which researchers are calling induced motor neurons (iMNs), can be used to study the development of the paralyzing diseases and to develop treatments for them. In a paper given “Immediate Early Publication” online by Cell Stem Cell, the team reports that the cells they are calling iMNs appear to be fully functional.
