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This is why way back in school they tell you that when conducting experiments, document everything.
Breakthrough Science: Scientists Accidentally Cure Parkinson's Disease In Mice
"In what appears to be a scientific breakthrough that holds out hope for people suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, scientists accidentally cured mice of Parkinson’s disease during a recent study.
The experts from the University of California in San Diego had sought to better understand the role of proteins in connective cells in the brain in their study, but seems to have stumbled upon a way to grow neurons, or nerve cells, in a lab easily.
The researchers were studying a protein, called ‘PTB’, that turns genes on or off within cells. In order to better understand how this gene influences cell functions, they silenced the protein in the connective tissue cell fibroblasts. They then grew those cells in Petri dishes to look for any changes.
Surprisingly, a couple of weeks later, they found that a large number of these fibroblasts had been replaced by neurons. What they found was that when the protein PTB was silenced, brain cells called astrocytes got converted into neurons.
“Researchers around the world have tried many ways to generate neurons in the lab, using stem cells and other means, so we can study them better, as well as to use them to replace lost neurons in neurodegenerative diseases. The fact we could produce so many neurons in such a relatively easy way came as a big surprise,” Yahoo Style quoted the study’s lead author Dr. Xiang-Dong Fu."
https://www.ibtimes.com/breakthroug...dentally-cure-parkinsons-disease-mice-3003058
If this is true and doesn't result in The Last Of Us...
Give these guys a Nobel prize.
Breakthrough Science: Scientists Accidentally Cure Parkinson's Disease In Mice
"In what appears to be a scientific breakthrough that holds out hope for people suffering from neurodegenerative disorders, scientists accidentally cured mice of Parkinson’s disease during a recent study.
The experts from the University of California in San Diego had sought to better understand the role of proteins in connective cells in the brain in their study, but seems to have stumbled upon a way to grow neurons, or nerve cells, in a lab easily.
The researchers were studying a protein, called ‘PTB’, that turns genes on or off within cells. In order to better understand how this gene influences cell functions, they silenced the protein in the connective tissue cell fibroblasts. They then grew those cells in Petri dishes to look for any changes.
Surprisingly, a couple of weeks later, they found that a large number of these fibroblasts had been replaced by neurons. What they found was that when the protein PTB was silenced, brain cells called astrocytes got converted into neurons.
“Researchers around the world have tried many ways to generate neurons in the lab, using stem cells and other means, so we can study them better, as well as to use them to replace lost neurons in neurodegenerative diseases. The fact we could produce so many neurons in such a relatively easy way came as a big surprise,” Yahoo Style quoted the study’s lead author Dr. Xiang-Dong Fu."
https://www.ibtimes.com/breakthroug...dentally-cure-parkinsons-disease-mice-3003058
If this is true and doesn't result in The Last Of Us...
Give these guys a Nobel prize.
