Bone marrow MSCs can be transduced with a vector that can stably express pancreatic duodenal homeobox 1 (Pdx1) gene. The resulting cells can secrete insulin in response to glucose stimulation. In order to fully recapitulate all the functions of islets, these cells have to be transplanted to diabetic animals that can induce neuroD1 expression in the cells and regulate transcriptional control of all islet genes.

I was able to requite chicken embryonic cells-12 to 24hr post fertilization (?stem cells) into neural cells simply by exposing them to forming neural tubes or mature chicken brain.