Chemical Treatment Transforms Skin Cells Into Neurons

An anonymous reader writes: Two teams of researchers have independently succeeded in turning skin cells into neurons using a chemical cocktail. One group used human cells from healthy individuals and Alzheimer's patients, and the other used cells from mice. Sciencemag reports: "Molecular and cell biologists say the technique could become an important player in personalized medicine, specifically in using a patient's own cells to develop therapies for their disease or even to provide a source of transplantable cells for treatment."

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[davester666]

hey, that's my brain you are touching!

web of trust

[Pseudonymous Powers]

As a layman, I find it hard to know how much faith I should have in these claims, given that an almost identical claim made in recent years was touted widely in the news media and then turned out to be falsified.

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[K. S. Kyosuke]

There will soon be a correction in the news that the teams actually succeeded in converting all their brain cells into skin cells.

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[Aaden42]

You jest, but it would be nice if the folks at Foregen (foregen.org) started examining techniques like this.

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[aristotle-dude]

it transfers them back into their basic state, morons.

Don't you mean democrats? You love Hillary even if she was killing people in the streets. You would vote for Hillary no matter what.

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[bondsbw]

After last night's Republican debates, I'm thinking Trump won't be running against her.

I was actually kind of impressed... it wasn't nearly the clown show I was expecting.

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[danbert8]

In the words of the wise Yoda, "And that is why you fail."

skin has been used for cartilage replacement

[Anonymous Coward]

Oskar Koneczny in Germany had done cartilage replacement for years in Germany using the patients own skin. His book "Die Koriumplastik in der Gelenk-und Extremitatenchirurgie" describes the procedure in some detail. Unfortunately, no one in this country seems to have picked up on this.

That sounds really painful... raw nerves.

[GungaDan]

All I can picture in my head right now is the ATHF episode where Carl's skin gets transformed into eyeballs. Whole new meaning to "Ow! My Balls!" there.

Excellent

[puddingebola]

Now I will be able to turn my entire epidermis into neurons increasing my thought capacity by a factor of 12. However, I may start to hallucinate when I put on sunscreen.

2 words: Suh - Weet!

[Snotnose]

Now I can put all that extra skin around my gut to good use! Us fatties will be the smartest people in the room. Bwahahaha!!!!