Stem cell research: updates and commentary on research findings

Research spotlights

Scientific research papers, summarized for non-scientists.

Direct reprogramming: another way of making human neurons

Direct reprogramming of cells (also called direct cell-fate conversion) is where one fully differentiated cell type changes directly into another. In the past, researchers thought this was impossible, especially for generating human neurons.  Now it has been shown to be not only possible, but also potentially simpler than other methods of creating neurons, such as creating induced pluripotent (iPS) cells to be subsequently differentiated into neurons.

Capturing the primordial human stem cells in the lab


