Scientists are heralding a major leap forward in dementia treatment after transforming skin cells into brain cells. The pioneering study raises the hope that doctors could create nerve cells to inject into the brains of Alzheimer’s patients to repair damage. The researchers, who report their breakthrough in the journal Nature, used just three genes to transform mouse skin cells into nerve cells, called neurons. The converted skin cells could also be used to treat Parkinson’s disease or heal damaged spinal cords, it is hoped.

Dr Irving Weissman, from Stanford University in California, said: ‘This study is a huge leap forward.’

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Researchers from the University of British Columbia and Harvard University have co-developed a system that captures on video and barcodes the behavioral responses of zebrafish to chemical compounds on a large scale. The approach could dramatically speed up the discovery of new psychiatric drugs. It can track the behavioral effects of up to 14,000 chemicals at a time and has already identified new chemicals that affect behaviour in fish.

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A new research study led by a team of University of North Carolina researchers shows that choline plays a critical role in helping fetal brains develops regions associated with memory. Choline is found in meats, including pork, as well as chicken eggs. Two groups of pregnant mice were fed different diets during the window of time when a fetus develops its hippocampus, that part of the brain responsible for memory.

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