Key points from article :
Gladstone Institutes has used chemicals to transform human skin cells into heart cells.
97% of cells began beating like healthy heart cells.
Similar approach created neural stem-cell-like cells from mouse skin cells.
When transplanted the cells spontaneously developed into neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes.
Could lead to regenerating lost or damaged cells directly with pharmaceutical drugs.
The studies were published in the Science and Cell Stem Cell journals.
