Researchers at the Eli and Edythe Broad Center of Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research at UCLA have developed a first-of-its-kind roadmap detailing how stem cells become sensory interneurons—the cells that enable sensations like touch, pain and itch.

The study, conducted using embryonic stem cells from mice, also identified a method for producing all types of sensory interneurons in the laboratory. 𝐈𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤 𝐜𝐚𝐧 𝐛𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐥𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐡𝐮𝐦𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥𝐬, 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐬 𝐬𝐚𝐢𝐝, 𝐢𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞 𝐚 𝐤𝐞𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐩 𝐭𝐨𝐰𝐚𝐫𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥𝐨𝐩𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐥-𝐛𝐚𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐞𝐨𝐩𝐥𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐨 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐟𝐞𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲 𝐝𝐮𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐩𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝 𝐢𝐧𝐣𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐞𝐬.