With the first successful transformation of stem cells into brain cells, UW-Madison researchers have continued their trend of groundbreaking stem-cell science that began on this campus three years ago.

In the Dec. 1 edition of the science journal Nature Biotechnology, a group of UW researchers led by UW neurology professor Su-Chun Zhang announced they had successfully triggered undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells into brain cells, a discovery that may lead to the treatment of some of the world’s most debilitating diseases.

Zhang, UW researchers James Thomson and Ian Duncan and two researchers from the University of Bonn Medical Center in Germany, Marius Wernig and Oliver Brustle, authored the report.

Stem cells are embryonic cells that could theoretically be triggered into specializing into any of the body’s 200-plus cells.

“This is a very important step,” Zhang told the Associated Press. “The cells work. The neuron that we’re seeing after transplant is almost identical to what the neuron should be in the healthy brain.”

The work foreshadows a new future in science, researchers hope.

The spinal cord and brain cells the researches created are crucial aids in repairing a damaged or ailing brain, which means it may soon be possible to create cells to repair damaged tissue.

The discovery is noted as the second successful differentiation of stem cells into other cells. UW researcher Dan Kaufman turned stem cells into blood cells early in September.

However, researchers noted, clinical use, or even testing in human subjects, is still years away.
“We are nowhere near clinical application,” Zhang said. “It will still be some years before we can even try this in people.”
Zhang said the group has just begun performing similar experiments on monkeys, which stand as an important interim step between research with mice and research with humans.
The developments on the UW campus can be traced back to the first successful isolation of stem cells, done by Thomson in 1998.
UW’s stem cell advancements were again thrown into the spotlight recently when the five cells lines Thomson created were among the few in the world that were approved by President Bush for U.S. federal funding.