Cell Fate Plug and Play: Direct Reprogramming and Induced Pluripotency

Building on the discovery that MyoD expression reprograms fibroblasts into muscle, three papers (Vierbuchen et al., 2010, Ieda et al., 2010 and Szabo et al., 2010) recently reported the reprogramming of fibroblasts into neurons, cardiomyocytes, and blood cell progenitors without first passing the cells through a pluripotent state. Here we discuss the advantages and challenges of harnessing this direct reprogramming method for regenerative medicine.