Problem
Schizophrenia is a genetic disease that affects the early development of the brain although major symptoms do not appear until the person is in their teens or 20's. Disorders in human brain development can be better understood and potentially treated (in adults!?) using brain organoids, a subset of which are called cerebral organoids. Discuss how a person's skin cells (fibroblasts) can be converted into nerve cells and then into cerebral organoids. Development of these organoids can then be compared to that of cerebral organoids from other people. Include in the discussion the special role of pioneer transcription factors in mediating conversion of fully differentiated cells into embryonic stem cells (induced pluripotent stem cells or iPSCs) that can be converted by various growth factors into other types of cells.