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A research breakthrough has proven that it is possible to reprogram mature cells from human skin directly into brain cells, without passing through the stem cell stage. The unexpectedly simple technique involves activating three genes in the skin cells; genes which are already known to be active in the formation of brain cells at the fetal stage. The new technique avoids many of the ethical dilemmas that stem cell research has faced. For the first time, a research group at Lund University in Sweden has succeeded in creating specific types of nerve cells from human skin. By reprogramming connective tissue...

Skin cells turned directly into neurons By Clive Cookson Published: January 28 2010 02:00 | Last updated: January 28 2010 02:00 Stem cell scientists at Stanford University in California announced "a huge step forward" last night, with the publication of research that turned skin into nerve cells without any intermediate step. The production of neurons [nerve cells] directly from other adult cells, without making stem cells en route, could transform "regenerative medicine" - providing a plentiful supply of neurons for treating people with degenerative brain diseases such as Parkinson's or those with spinal injuries. "We actively and directly induced one...

A new surgical technique pioneered at the Fraunhofer Institute for Cell Therapy in Leipzig may allow for patients to receive grafted ‘artificial’ skin grown using their own cells. The procedure, called the EpiDex® technique, has been developed with euroderm GmbH, and could replace traditional treatments which involve taking skin from another part of the patient’s body. If successful, the new process would eliminate the additional scarring, with which patients suffer at the donor area (usually the thigh), but would still have the same chances of success for the graft taking. “If we produce this skin using the recently approved EpiDex®...

The skin’s ability to replace the tissue it sloughs off is controlled by a variety of genes. A new study from Harvard Medical School published in the May 4 issue of Cell, however, identifies a “master regulator” of this regeneration process not only for skin, but for many epithelial tissues including breast, prostate, and urogenital tract. The skin’s ability to replace the tissue it sloughs off is controlled by a variety of genes. A new study from Harvard Medical School published in the May 4 issue of Cell, however, identifies a “master regulator” of this regeneration process not only for...

Canadian scientists have produced neurons from human skin stem cells in a breakthrough that might revolutionize neurodegenerative disease treatments. The Laval University researchers succeeded in producing neurons in vitro using stem cells extracted from adult human skin. That marks the first time such an advanced state of nerve cell differentiation has been achieved from human skin, according to lead researcher professor Francois Berthod. The scientists say the breakthrough could eventually lead to revolutionary advances in the treatment of neurodegenerative illnesses such as Parkinson's disease. Berthod and his team described the method used to produce the neurons in a recent issue...

For cells that hold so much promise, stem cells' potential has so far gone largely untapped. But new research from Rockefeller University and Howard Hughes Medical Institute scientists now shows that adult stem cells taken from skin can be used to clone mice using a procedure called nuclear transfer. The findings are reported in the Feb. 12 online edition of the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. Using a technique called nuclear transfer, mice were cloned using adult skin stem cells (right) and a more differentiated type of skin cell (left). The mouse on the right is almost two...

Experimental DermatologyVolume 15 Page 794  - October 2006doi:10.1111/j.1600-0625.2006.00471.x Volume 15 Issue 10 Towards the development of a pragmatic technique for isolating and differentiating nestin-positive cells from human scalp skin into neuronal and glial cell populations: generating neurons from human skin? Charli Kruse, Enikö Bodó, Anna E. Petschnik, Sandra Danner, Stephan Tiede and Ralf Paus Abstract: Nestin+ hair follicle-associated cells of murine skin can be isolated and differentiated in vitro into neuronal and glial cells. Therefore, we have asked whether human skin also contains nestin+ cells, and whether these can be differentiated in vitro into neuronal and/or glial cell populations. In this...

Embryonic stem cells have the potential to grow into any number of specialized cells. Guided in the prenatal environment, such cells become the incredible variety of cells that comprise our bodies. These pluripotent cells thus offer a new avenue for creating novel therapies for a wide range of ailments. Scientists have found it hard, however, to induce stem cells to grow in vitro the same way they grow in the womb. Now medical researchers have shown that it is possible to grow keratinocytes--the skin cells that make up our outer covering--from embryonic stem cells in the lab, though not without...

By Maggie Fox, Health and Science Correspondent WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Scientists said on Tuesday they had transformed ordinary human skin cells into immune cells in an experiment that, if it can be repeated, might bypass the need for either stem cells or highly controversial cloning technology for many medical therapies. The team at biotech start-up Nucleotech LLC hope to be able to offer patients grow-your-own transplants that could theoretically be used to treat diseases such as immune deficiencies and juvenile diabetes. Many teams are working on the idea, but nearly all had assumed the need for stem cells, the body's...