New atlas shows how stem cells can be steered to specific parts of the brain
Sybille Hildebrandt
A Danish–Swiss research group has systematically tested which signalling substances cause stem cells to develop into different types of nerve cells in small artificial “mini-brains”. The results give laboratories a far more reliable starting point for cultivating precisely the types of nerve cells they need for disease models – and, in the longer term, perhaps also for treatments in which new nerve cells can replace cells lost to diseases such as Parkinson’s.