The joint research conducted by the Konkuk University (KU) team headed by Prof. Dong Wook Han and Germany's Max Planck Institute team established and developed direct conversion (i.e., transdifferentiation) methods for neural stem cells. This research, led by Prof. Han of KU Lab of Stem Cell Biology, KU School of Medicine, and implemented by KU doctoral candidate Mr. Sungmin Kim and the German research team, was funded by the Next-Generation BioGreen 21 Program of the Korean Rural Development Administration (RDA) and the grant for advanced research from the National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF). The study was published online in the prestigious scientific journal, Nature Protocol, on March 20, 2014, under the title "Direct conversion of mouse fibroblasts into induced neural stem cells."
Prof. Han commented that he expects the results to be utilized for the selection of most pertinent induced neural stem cells for cell therapy targeted at diverse neurological disorders.
Posted by Eun Jin Cho