ESC & iPSC News Volume 11.31 | Aug 10 2016

TOP STORY

Single-Cell Analyses of X Chromosome Inactivation Dynamics and Pluripotency during Differentiation

Scientists found that mouse embryonic stem cells grown in a ground state 2i condition displayed transcriptomic profiles diffused from preimplantation mouse embryonic cells, while EpiStem cells closely resembled the postimplantaion epiblast. [Genome Res] Abstract | Full Article

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Erasure of DNA Methylation, Genomic Imprints, and Epimutations in a Primordial Germ-Cell Model Derived from Mouse Pluripotent Stem Cells

By differential detection of genome-wide 5-methylcytosines and 5-hydroxymethylcytosine distributions by deep sequencing, scientists showed that primordial germ cell (PGC)-like cells derived from mouse pluripotent stem cells recapitulated the process of genome-wide DNA demethylation in embryonic PGCs, including significant demethylation of imprint control regions associated with increased mRNA expression of the corresponding imprinted genes. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract | Full Article

Co-Incident Insertion Enables High Efficiency Genome Engineering in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

The authors increased the efficiency of isolating precise homology directed repair-mediated events in mouse embryonic stem cells by more than 20-fold through the use of co-incidental insertion of independent donor DNA sequences. [Nucleic Acids Res] Full Article

Erk5 Is a Key Regulator of Naive-Primed Transition and Embryonic Stem Cell Identity

Scientists performed a targeted screen for kinase inhibitors, which modulate the naive-primed pluripotent transition. They found that XMD compounds, which selectively inhibit Erk5 kinase and BET bromodomain family proteins, drive embryonic stem cells toward primed pluripotency. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Direct Induction and Functional Maturation of Forebrain GABAergic Neurons from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Scientists identified a set of genetic factors that could robustly induce human pluripotent stem cells into gamma-aminobutyric acid (GABA)ergic neurons with high efficiency. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Sall4 Controls Differentiation of Pluripotent Cells Independently of the Nucleosome Remodeling and Deacetylation (NuRD) Complex

Researchers showed that Sall4 is dispensable for ES cell pluripotency. Sall4 is an enhancer-binding protein that prevents precocious activation of the neural gene expression program in ES cells but is not required for maintenance of the pluripotency gene regulatory network. [Development] Abstract

Simulated Microgravity and 3D Culture Enhance Induction, Viability, Proliferation and Differentiation of Cardiac Progenitors from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Investigators engineered microscale progenitor cardiac spheres from human pluripotent stem cells and exposed the spheres to simulated microgravity using a random positioning machine for three days during their differentiation to cardiomyocytes. [Sci Rep] Full Article

A Cas9 Variant for Efficient Generation of Indel-Free Knockin or Gene-Corrected Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Investigators fused the Streptococcus pyogenes Cas9 nuclease to a peptide derived from the human Geminin protein to facilitate its degradation during the G₁ phase of the cell cycle, when DNA repair by non-homologous end joining predominates. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article

Mechanisms of Pluripotency Maintenance in Canine Pluripotent Stem Cells under bFGF and LIF Supplementation

Scientists found that basic fibroblast growth factor regulates pluripotency by indirectly activating SMAD2/3 pathway in the presence of feeder cells, exclusively targeting NANOG expression, and inhibiting spontaneous differentiation toward ectoderm and mesoderm. [Stem Cells Dev] Abstract

Looking to the Future Following 10 Years of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Technologies

The development of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has fundamentally changed the view on developmental cell-fate determination and led to a cascade of technological innovations in regenerative medicine. The authors provide an overview of the progress in the field over the past decade, as well as their perspective on future directions and clinical implications of induced pluripotent stem cells technology. [Nat Protoc] Abstract

Utilization of Different Antiviral Mechanisms by Mammalian Embryonic Stem Cells and Differentiated Cells

The author discusses the molecular basis and biological implications for mammals to have different antiviral mechanisms during development. [Immunol Cell Biol] Abstract

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

Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation Grants Fellowships to 17 Top Young Scientists

The Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation named 17 new Damon Runyon Fellows at its spring Fellowship Award Committee review. [Damon Runyon Cancer Research Foundation] Press Release

Southwest National Primate Research Center at Texas Biomed Receives $40 Million NIH Grant

The Southwest National Primate Research Center at Texas Biomedical Research Institute was awarded more than $40 million for a National Institutes of Health (NIH) P51 grant through 2021 to continue research programs using nonhuman primates as part of the National Primate Research Center consortia. [Texas Biomedical Research Institute] Press Release

Beyond CRISPR: A Guide to the Many Other Ways to Edit a Genome

The zeal with which researchers jumped on a possible new gene-editing system called NgAgo earlier this year reveals an undercurrent of frustration with CRISPR–Cas9 — and a drive to find alternatives. [Nature News] Editorial

US Agency Lifts Ban on Funding Human–Animal Hybrids

Researchers in the United States will soon be able to resume creating chimera-based projects. [Nature News] Editorial

The FDA Is Prohibited from Going Germline

A potentially renewable provision of the Consolidated Appropriation Act of 2016 forestalling the prospect of human germline modification was signed into law on December 18th, 2015. The provision has since been incorporated again into the House and Senate appropriation bills for the fiscal year. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Danish Stem Cell Society 2016
November 10-11, 2016
Rungsted, Denmark

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

NEW Assistant Professor – Developmental Biology (Washington University School of Medicine)

NEW Core Staff Scientist (Moffitt Cancer Center)

NEW Postdoctoral Position – Regenerative Medicine (University of California, San Francisco)

NEW Postdoctoral Position – Biomedical Engineering (University of South Dakota)

Technical Sales Representative (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Postdoctoral Position – Cardiovascular Stem Cell Biology (Yale University)

Postdoctoral Positions – Epigenetic Inheritance and Cancer Epigenetics (Columbia University)

Industrial Research Manager – Regenerative Medicine and Tissue Engineering (KU Leuven)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Pluripotent Stem Cell Technology (University of California, Davis)

Postdoctoral Position – Bone and Stem Cell Research (University of Connecticut Health)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Cancer Biology and Stem Cell Biology Research (City of Hope)

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