Strategy for the Creation of Clinical Grade hESC Line Banks that HLA-Match a Target Population Researchers described a pre-derivation embryo haplotyping strategy that they developed in order to maximize the efficiency and minimize the costs of establishing banks of clinical grade human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines in which human leukocyte antigen (HLA) haplotypes match a significant proportion of the population. [EMBO Mol Med] Abstract Identification of Oct4-Activating Compounds that Enhance Reprogramming Efficiency To identify small molecules that enhance reprogramming efficiency, researchers performed a cell-based high-throughput screening of chemical libraries. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract Recapitulation of Spinal Motor Neuron-Specific Disease Phenotypes in a Human Cell Model of Spinal Muscular Atrophy Researchers developed a closely representative cell model of spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) by knocking down the disease-determining gene, survival motor neuron (SMN), in human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). Their study with this cell model demonstrated that knocking down of SMN does not interfere with neural induction or the initial specification of spinal motor neurons. [Cell Res] Abstract An Efficient Non-Viral Method to Generate Integration-Free Human iPS Cells from Cord Blood and Peripheral Blood Cells The authors recently reported the efficient generation of human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) from adult fibroblasts using a combination of plasmids encoding OCT3/4, SOX2, KLF4, L-MYC, LIN28 and shRNA for TP53. They herein report a modified protocol enabling efficient iPSC induction from CD34+ cord blood cells and from peripheral blood isolated from healthy donors using these plasmid vectors. [Stem Cells] Abstract Insulin Inhibits Cardiac Mesoderm, not Mesendoderm, Formation during Cardiac Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells and Modulation of Canonical Wnt Signaling Can Rescue this Inhibition Researchers showed that insulin and Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathways, as a network, coordinate to influence human pluripotent stem cell differentiation to cardiomyocytes, with the Wnt/β-catenin pathway dominant to the insulin pathway. [Stem Cells] Abstract The RB Family Is Required for the Self-Renewal and Survival of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Experiments indicated that a homeostatic level of RB activity is essential for the self-renewal and the survival of human embryonic stem cells. [Nat Commun] Abstract Intrapatient Variations in Type 1 Diabetes-Specific iPS Cell Differentiation into Insulin-Producing Cells From individual patients with type 1 diabetes, multiple human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) clones were produced and prospectively screened using a battery of developmental markers to assess respective differentiation propensity and proficiency in yielding functional insulin-producing progeny. [Mol Ther] Abstract Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Models to Investigate Human Cytomegalovirus Infection in Neural Cells Investigators derived induced pluripotent stem cells from human adult fibroblasts and induced neural lineages to investigate their susceptibility to infection with human cytomegalovirus strain Ad169. [PLoS One] Full Article | Press Release A Practical and Efficient Cellular Substrate for the Generation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells from Adults: Blood-Derived Endothelial Progenitor Cells Scientists described the use of late-outgrowth endothelial progenitor cells (L-EPCs) as a cellular substrate for the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). As a proof-of-principle for clinical applications they generated EPC-iPSCs from both healthy individuals and patients with heritable and idiopathic forms of pulmonary arterial hypertension. [Stem Cells Transl Med] Abstract | Press Release In Vivo Differentiation Potential of Epiblast Stem Cells Revealed by Chimeric Embryo Formation Researchers showed that epiblast stem cells derived either from postimplantation embryos or from embryonic stem cells in vitro readily generate chimeras when grafted to postimplantation embryos in whole embryo culture. [Cell Rep] Abstract | Graphical Abstract |