Stanford scientists turn human skin cells directly into neurons skipping iPS stage

Human skin cells can be converted directly into functional neurons in a period of four to five weeks with the addition of just four proteins, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

The finding is significant because it bypasses the need to first create induced pluripotent stem cells, and may make it much easier to generate patient- or disease-specific neurons for study in a laboratory dish.

Source:
http://med.stanford.edu/ism/2011/may/wernig.html