CHICAGO: Two groups have independently succeeded in converting skin cells directly into neurons using different chemical cocktails.
This approach removes the need for an intermediate pluripotent reprogramming step and may avoid some of the technical and safety issues raised by the current method of genetic reprogramming.
“The small molecules that are used in this chemical approach are cell permeable, cost-effective, easy to synthesise, preserve, and standardise, and their effects can be reversible,” says…