The Scripps Research Institute scientists have found a new and very effective way to reprogram a bone marrow stem cell into a Brain Cell Progenitor. Bone marrow stem cells are known to normally mature into white blood cells.
This was achieved by an interaction of a single antibody with a receptor on the marrow cell and
is probably the simplest transdifferentiation technique to date.
[edit 4 Jul 2013 ]
Stem cell induction (creation of induced stem cells iSC) from a differentiated adult cell without altering its DNA is also much safer than inducing a SC by introduction of a foreign DNA piece into its native DNA by e.g. a viral vector. These iSC cell lines are more prone to grow noncancerous tumors. See e.g. here.
Antibody induced transdifferentiation, IMHO, is an extremely promising low 'collateral damage' and elegant technique.
More details for the story are Here.
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