Human stem cells for modeling neurological disorders: accelerating the drug discovery pipeline.

The availability of human stem cells heralds a new era for modeling normal and pathologic tissues and developing therapeutics. For example, the in vitro recapitulation of normal and aberrant neurogenesis holds significant promise as a tool for de novo modeling of neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative diseases. Translational applications include deciphering brain development, function, pathologies, traditional medications, and drug discovery for novel pharmacotherapeutics.