(Medical Xpress) -- Cambridge scientists have, for the first
time, created cerebral cortex cells those that make up the
brains grey matter from a small sample of human skin. The
researchers findings, which were funded by Alzheimers Research
UK and the Wellcome Trust, were published today in Nature
Neuroscience. Diseases of the cerebral cortex range from
developmental conditions, such as epilepsy and autism, to
neurodegenerative conditions such as Alzheimers. Todays findings
will enable scientists to study how the human cerebral cortex
develops, how it wires up and how that can go wrong (a common
problem leading to learning disabilities). It will also allow
them to recreate brain diseases, such as Alzheimers, in the lab.
This will give them previously impossible insight, allowing them
to both watch the diseases develop in real time and also develop
and test new drugs to stop the diseases progressing. Dr. Rick
Livesey of the Gurdon Institute and Department of Biochemistry
at the University of Cambridge, princip