Scientists have had little success in growing skeletal muscle for patients with muscular dystrophy and other disorders that degrade and weaken muscle. Undertaking experiments in zebrafish, mouse and human cells, researchers have identified a way to do that, creating cells that Leonard Zon, MD, hopes to see tested in patients in the next several years.

But what really excites Zon, director of the Stem Cell research program at Boston Children’s Hospital, is the power of the chemical screening platform he and his colleagues used. Described last week in the journal Cell, it found a cocktail of three compounds that induced human muscle cells to grow—in just a matter of weeks. Zon believes it could fast-track drug discovery for multiple disorders. …