Sensitive skin: nerve cells from a skin stem cell.
Miller/Macmillan
Amultipotent skin-derived stem cell, and a purified neural stem cell from the brain have come on the scene at a delicate time in the debate over embryonic stem cell research. Each success in isolating adult stem cells, such as these cells, gives ammunition to opponents of embryonic stem cell research, who point to adult-derived stem cells as an alternative source of transplant-ready material.
The skin cells come from the work of Freda Miller and colleagues at McGill University, Montreal, Canada. Miller was prompted to look for neural precursors in skin based on the fact that certain mechanosensing neurons appear to be born in the skin. She relied on a protocol used to isolate neural stem cells from the brain, which involves purifying floating clusters (or spheres) of cells away from adherent cells. The purified spheres...
