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Scientists have described a way to convert human skin cells directly into a specific type of brain cell affected by Huntington's disease, an ultimately fatal neurodegenerative disorder. Unlike other techniques that turn one cell type into another, this new process does not pass through a stem cell phase, avoiding the production of multiple cell types, report researchers at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. The investigators, including Andrew Yoo, PhD, (from left) Michelle Richner and Matheus Victor, demonstrated that these converted cells survived at least six months after injection into the brains of mice and behaved similarly to native cells in the brain.
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Daniel Abernathy
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