THE activity of stem cells, prized for their ability to differentiate into any cell type in the body, has been controlled by manipulating cellular electrical signals.
At present, researchers expose stem cells to nutrients and growth factors to trigger differentiation and control what type of cell they will become. But when of Tufts University, Boston, and colleagues discovered voltage changes in adult human stem cells as the cells naturally differentiated into fat and bone, they wondered if changing the voltage could control a cell’s fate.
Sure enough, when they blocked ion flow in a fresh batch of cells,…
