Harvard Researchers Achieve Direct Reprogramming of Cells

The Harvard Crimson: HSCI co-director Douglas A. Melton is the first to report successful "direct reprogramming," a technique that—as its name suggests—directly transforms one type of a fully formed adult cell into another.
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Unlike the technique used to create induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells by genetically manipulating a patient's cells and reprogramming them into a pluripotent state before morphing into a different type of body tissue, direct reprogramming simply flips an adult cell directly into the desired form, skipping the middle steps.