For the first time, a team of US scientists used an innovative technique to transform skin cells taken from ALS (amyotrophic lateral sclerosis) persons into the motor neurons, which are exactly the type of cells that degenerate in patients who suffer from this disease, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease.

Using the cell reprogramming technique, researchers have the chance to study the brain cells that degenerate in patients with Lou Gehring’s disease, to better understand what causes the disease, to test new drugs and determine what drugs might be effective to treat the disease. The discovery also allows them to study many other genetic diseases.

“It opens doors to making patient-specific stem cell lines,” said Dr. Kevin Eggan, principle faculty member at the Harvard Stem Cell Institute and lead author of the study.

“You can use these cells to make the actual cell type for that person’s disease.”

The research study, conducted by scientists from Harvard University and Columbia University, was published in the Aug. 1st issue of the journal Science. Stem cell researchers not involved in the study also called the advance promising.

The finding may prove helpful to researchers in the war with ALS and many other genetic diseases because it supports the theory that almost any cell in the body can function as a stem cell and is capable of being reprogrammed into many different cells in the body. They may serve as a sort of repair system for the human body.

One of the reasons ALS research was a slow process was the inability to study the neurons affected by the ALS in the laboratory. Now, researchers “can generate hundreds of millions of motor neurons that are genetically identical to a patient’s own neurons. This will be an immense help as we try to uncover the mechanisms behind this disease and screen for drugs that can prolong life,” Chris Henderson at Columbia, co-author of the study said.