Researchers in California have conducted a study in mice that skipped the middle "stem cell" stage to convert skin cells directly into brain cells. Stem cells have long been considered to have huge promise in some treatments because they can become any other specialist type of cell. However, ethical concerns were raised about where to get the cells from, and stem cells not matching the patients' own cells will cause unfavourable immune response. Another way is to reprogram patients' skin cells into "induced" stem cells, but the process may activate cancer-causing genes, which is again undesira......
