Building on the discovery that MyoD expression reprograms fibroblasts into muscle, three papers
(Vierbuchen et al., 2010; Ieda et al., 2010; Szabo et al., 2010) recently reported the reprogramming of
fibroblasts into neurons, cardiomyocytes, and blood cell progenitors without first passing the cells
through a pluripotent state. Here we discuss the advantages and challenges of harnessing this
direct reprogramming method for regenerative medicine.