Researchers from Cambridge University successfully created brain tissue from a sliver of human skin. The breakthrough could lead to a cure for a wide range of neurological conditions like Alzheimer's, stroke and autism.

The British researchers have for the first time created cerebral cortex cells in the laboratory by reprogramming skin cells. This could help researchers in finding new treatments for Alzheimer's or stroke. Scientists can now use these cerebral cortex brain cells to test for new treatments. Researchers have had a difficult time acquiring tissue from the cerebral cortex, which is the part of the brain where most major neurological diseases occur, to test treatments on. Usually scientists have to use controversial embryonic stem cells to get a supply of brain tissue for research. However this method is very limiting to research because of ethical concerns and limited availability.

''We have been able to take reprogrammed skin cells so they develop into brain stem cells and then essentially replay brain development in the laboratory. This approach gives us the ability to study human brain development and disease in ways that were unimaginable even five years ago," Dr. Rick Livesey of the Gurdon Institute and Department of Biochemistry at the University of Cambridge said in a statement.

The scientists took skin biopsies from patients and then reprogrammed the skin cells into stem cells which were then used to generate the cerebral cortex cells.

The newly created cerebral cortex cells can provide scientists "previously impossible insight" to help them develop and test new drugs to stop neurological diseases from spreading. Researchers can now use these reprogrammed skin cells to replay brain development in the laboratory. The findings will also allow scientists to study how learning disabilities occur.

Alzheimer's disease affects nearly 36 million people worldwide. According to Alzheimer's Australia almost 280,000 Australians live with dementia and that figure is expected to soar to almost 1 million by 2050 if there is no significant medical breakthrough. Dementia is the third leading cause of death in Australia, after heart disease and stroke.

The Cambridge research was funded by Alzheimer's Research UK and the Welcome Trust. The findings were published in the journal Nature Neuroscience.