New way to make muscle cells from human stem cells

As stem cells continue their gradual transition from the lab to the clinic, a research group has discovered a new way to make large concentrations of skeletal muscle cells and muscle progenitors from human stem cells. The new method could be used to generate large numbers of muscle cells and muscle progenitors directly from human pluripotent stem cells. These stem cells, such as embryonic (ES) or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells, can be made into virtually any adult cell in the body.