Reprogramming Therapeutics: iPS Cell Prospects for Neurodegenerative Disease

The recent description of somatic cell reprogramming to an embryonic stem (ES) cell-like phenotype, termed induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell technology, presents an exciting potential venue toward cell-based therapeutics and disease models for neurodegenerative disorders. Two recent studies (Dimos et al. and Ebert et al.) describe the initial characterization of neurodegenerative disease patient-derived iPS cell cultures as proof of concept for the utility of this technology