ESC & iPSC News Volume 15.03 | Jan 29 2020

TOP STORY

iPSC Modeling of Young-Onset Parkinson’s Disease Reveals a Molecular Signature of Disease and Novel Therapeutic Candidates

Following differentiation into cultures containing dopamine neurons, iPSCs from patients with young-onset Parkinson’s disease showed increased accumulation of soluble α-synuclein protein and phosphorylated protein kinase Cα, as well as reduced abundance of lysosomal membrane proteins such as LAMP1. [Nat Med] Abstract | Press Release

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Longitudinal Assessment of Tumor Development Using Cancer Avatars Derived from Genetically Engineered Pluripotent Stem Cells

Researchers introduced a cancer modeling paradigm using genetically engineered human (h)iPSCs that captured authentic cancer pathobiology. Orthotopic engraftment of the neural progenitor cells derived from hiPSCs that had been genome-edited to contain tumor-associated genetic driver mutations revealed by The Cancer Genome Atlas project for glioblastoma resulted in formation of high-grade gliomas. [Nat Commun] Full Article | Press Release

Dissecting Transcriptomic Signatures of Neuronal Differentiation and Maturation Using iPSCs

Scientists present a human iPSC transcriptomics resource on corticogenesis from five iPSC donors and 13 subclonal lines across nine time points over five broad conditions: self-renewal, early neuronal differentiation, neural precursor cells, assembled rosettes, and differentiated neuronal cells. [Nat Commun] Full Article

A Psychiatric Disease-Related Circular RNA Controls Synaptic Gene Expression and Cognition

Investigators showed that circHomer1a, a neuronal-enriched circular (circ)RNA abundantly expressed in the frontal cortex, derived from Homer protein homolog 1, was significantly reduced in both the prefrontal cortex and iPSC-derived neuronal cultures from patients with schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. [Mol Psychiatry] Full Article

p53 Controls Genomic Stability and Temporal Differentiation of Human Neural Stem Cells and Affects Neural Organization in Human Brain Organoids

Scientists used human iPSC-derived neural stem cells and brain organoids to study the role of p53 during human brain development. They knocked down p53 in human neuroepithelial stem cells derived from iPSCs. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article

Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived GABAergic Interneuron Transplants Attenuate Neuropathic Pain

Researchers showed that spinally transplanted, terminally differentiated human iPSC-derived GABAergic neurons provided significant, long-term, and safe relief from neuropathic pain induced by peripheral nerve injury in mice. [Pain] Abstract

Senescence-Associated Metabolomic Phenotype in Primary and iPSC-Derived Mesenchymal Stromal Cells

The authors directly compared culture expansion of primary mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) and iPSC-derived MSCs until they reached growth arrest. Both cell types acquired similar changes in morphology, in vitro differentiation potential, senescence-associated β-galactosidase, and DNA methylation. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Reference Glycan Structure Libraries of Primary Human Cardiomyocytes and Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes Reveal Cell-Type and Culture Stage-Specific Glycan Phenotypes

The authors used porous graphitized carbon liquid chromatography interfaced with mass spectrometry to generate glycan structure libraries for primary human heart tissue homogenate, cardiomyocytes (CMs) enriched from human heart tissue, and human iPSC derived CMs. [J Mol Cell Cardiol] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

Maturation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cerebellar Neurons in the Absence of Co-Culture

Researchers describe a novel differentiation strategy that used defined medium to generate Purkinje cells, granule cells, interneurons, and deep cerebellar nuclei projection neurons, that self-formed and matured into electrically active cells. [Front Bioeng Biotechnol] Abstract

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Stem Cell Therapy for Diabetes: Beta Cells versus Pancreatic Progenitors

In order to replace the function of destroyed pancreatic beta cells in diabetes, islet transplantation is the most widely practiced treatment. As an alternative approach, human PSCs can provide an unlimited source of pancreatic cells that have the ability to secrete insulin in response to a high blood glucose level. The authors discuss the advantages and predicted challenges associated with the use of each of two pancreatic lineage products for diabetes cell therapy. [Cells] Full Article

Visit our reviews page to see a complete list of reviews in the ESC & iPSC research field.

AgeX Therapeutics Enters Research Collaboration with Japanese Biopharma Company to Generate Hypoimmunogenic Cells

AgeX Therapeutics, Inc. announced a research collaboration with a Japanese biopharma company utilizing AgeX’s HLA-G-based immunotolerance UniverCyte^TM technology platform for the engineering of hypoimmunogenic cells. The research program will evaluate the expression of UniverCyte on iPSCs and the ability of those UniverCyte-modified iPSCs to evade immune responses and to differentiate into somatic cells. [AgeX Therapeutics, Inc.] Press Release

Osaka University Transplants iPS Cell-Based Heart Cells in World’s First Clinical Trial

An Osaka University team said it has carried out the world’s first transplant of cardiac muscle cells created from iPS cells in a physician-initiated clinical trial. In the clinical project to verify the safety and efficacy of the therapy using iPSCs, Yoshiki Sawa, a professor in the university’s cardiovascular surgery unit, and colleagues aim to transplant heart muscle cell sheets over the course of three years into ten patients suffering from serious heart malfunction caused by ischemic cardiomyopathy. [Osaka University (The Japan Times, Ltd.)] Press Release

Top Harvard Chemist Charged with Lying about Ties to Chinese Government Program

The head of Harvard University’s chemistry department was charged with attempting to conceal his involvement in a Chinese government program to bring scientists to China, an escalation of a crackdown by US authorities on what they perceive as a campaign to steal ideas born in American universities and medical centers. [STAT News] Editorial

UK and EU: Cherish What You Have Achieved and Stay Close

Most scientists didn’t want Brexit. UK researchers do not yet know if they will be part of joint EU research programmes. However, in one piece of welcome news, the futures of the many EU researchers who want to make their lives in Britain now lie in the hands of the UK Research and Innovation agency, and not the UK Home Office — an institution that, for much of the past decade, enacted and implemented policies to reduce immigration to the United Kingdom. [Nature News] Editorial

NEW From Stem Cells to Human Development
September 6-9, 2020
Surrey, United Kingdom

Visit our events page to see a complete list of events in the community.

NEW Postdoctoral Fellowship – Stem Cell Niche Biology (University of California San Francisco)

Postdoctoral Positions – Create ‘Foie Gras’ in Vitro from Stem Cells (KU Leuven)

PhD Position – Human Inducible Stem Cells (University of Fribourg)

Postdoctoral Positions – Stem Cell Biology (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Training Fellow – Drosophila Genetics (The Francis Crick Institute)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Stem Cell Research (Georgetown University Medical Center)

Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Endocrinology (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)

Scientist – Stem Cell Biology (Genentech, Inc.)

Postdoctoral Fellowship – Organ Progenitor Fate (University of Copenhagen)

Postdoctoral Fellow Positions – Cardiac iPSCs (Stanford Cardiovascular Institute)

Postdoctoral Fellow – iPSC Heart Cells (Stanford University)

Assistant Specialist – Division of Cardiovascular Medicine (University of California, Davis)

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