Human Stem Cells Turned Into Neurons

Stem cells taken from human embryos were coaxed into becoming motor neurons, researchers reported Sunday.

Writing in the journal Nature Biotechnology, Su-Chun Zhang and colleagues at the University of Wisconsin said they delivered a carefully timed cocktail of proteins to the cells to direct their development.

“You need to teach the [cells] to change step by step, where each step has different conditions and a strict window of time,” Zhang said.