A new technique developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology helps convert skin cells into neurons without needing to transform them first into stem cells. As demonstrated in mouse cells, this method makes it easier and more efficient to produce large-scale quantities of neurons.

One of the most amazing things to happen in biology in the last couple of years is cellular reprogramming. We learned how to convert one type of cell into another. In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka made a groundbreaking discovery that would win him the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine just six years later: he found a new way to ‘reprogram’ adult,