Anchor: A team of local researchers have opened prospects of cell treatment by developing a technology that can convert somatic cells into neurons. If developed further, the new method could be used to treat dementia or diabetes.
Our Bae Joo-yon has more.
 
Report: A team of local scientists says it has developed a method of converting somatic cells into neurons using electromagnetized gold nanoparticles.
 
The team explained on Tuesday that the general percentage of cell conversion is normally around two percent. However, it said that with the new technology the efficiency of cell conversion was boosted to 20 times that.
 
Dongguk University Professor Kim Jong-pil and researcher Yoo Jun-sang announced that with the technology, their team succeeded in reprogramming a somatic cell in the brain of a mouse to a neuron. The team said that they applied the technology on a mouse with Parkinson’s disease and found that the production of the neurons helped treat the disease.
 
The team said that its study shows that electromagnetized gold nanoparticles in the presence of specific electromagnetic field(EMF) conditions facilitate an efficient direct lineage reprogramming to induced dopamine neurons in vitro and in vivo.
 
The team said its study results provide proof of principle for EMF-based in vivo lineage conversion as a potentially viable and safe therapeutic strategy for the treatment of neurodegenerative disorders.
 
The team believes that the technology, if further developed, could be used to treat diabetes and dementia.
 
The team’s research results were published in the international journal Nature Nanotechnology. 
Bae Joo-yon, KBS World Radio News.