Reprogramming Adult Cells to Study Neurological Diseases

[neuronline_admin]

Material below is adapted from the SfN Short Course, Probing Disorders of the Nervous System Using Reprogramming Approaches, by Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD. Short Courses are day-long scientific trainings on emerging neuroscience topics and research techniques held just prior to SfN’s annual meeting.

While animal models provide important insights into neurological disease, they rarely offer a complete picture: Findings sometimes fail to translate to humans and animal models often don’t mirror how neurological diseases develop and progress in humans. Neuroscience researchers need experimental systems that accurately mimic the genetic background, environment, and variability seen in humans.

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[brhowell]

This is certainly an intriguing line of work! I have not used these myself, as I am more of a behavioral neuroscientist focused on brain networks, it is exciting to hear more about the great advances cellular neuroscience is making. As a developmentalist I am always skeptical about how appropriate methods that utilize adult cells are for studying developmental disorders. Are there any plans to look into these methods using cells from pediatric patients?

I also greatly appreciate the nod to the environment at the end of the brief article. It is always important to recognize that nothing happens in isolation in the human body. I think we are just beginning to understand the ramifications of some of our lifestyle choices and other environmental exposures. It is great to see cellular neuroscientists taking the environment into consideration.