TO TURN stem cells into specialised cells, such as neurons, researchers usually face the daunting task of teasing out which one of a vast range of growth agents drives each step of the process. But it may be possible to drive the process without knowing which growth factors are involved.
The surfaces of cells are dotted with complex sugars, including heparan sulphate (HS) glycosaminoglycan sugars, which help form “signalosomes” that trap growth factors and line them up with receptors. The structure of the HS sugars changes according to a cell’s need for different growth agents. “We don’t know the full…
