ESC & iPSC News Volume 12.21 | May 31 2017

TOP STORY

Engineering the Hemogenic Niche Mitigates Endogenous Inhibitory Signals and Controls Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Blood Emergence

Efforts to recapitulate hematopoiesis, a process guided by spatial and temporal inductive signals, to generate hematopoietic progenitors from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have focused primarily on exogenous signaling pathway activation or inhibition. The authors showed that hemogenic niches can be engineered using microfabrication strategies by micropatterning hPSC-derived hemogenic endothelial cells into spatially-organized, size-controlled colonies. [Nat Commun] Full Article | Press Release

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Fam60a Defines a Variant Sin3a-Hdac Complex in Embryonic Stem Cells Required for Self-Renewal

Investigators compared the composition of the Sin3a-Hdac complex between pluripotent embryonic stem and differentiated cells by establishing a method that couples two independent endogenous immunoprecipitations with quantitative mass spectrometry. [EMBO J] Abstract | Graphical Abstract

Chd2 Regulates Chromatin for Proper Gene Expression toward Differentiation in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

Scientists demonstrated that chromodomain helicase DNA-binding domain 2 (Chd2) is required to maintain the differentiation potential of mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs). Chd2-depleted ESCs showed suppressed expression of developmentally regulated genes upon differentiation and subsequent differentiation defects without affecting gene expression in the undifferentiated state. [Nucleic Acids Res] Full Article

Defined and Scalable Differentiation of Human Oligodendrocyte Precursors from Pluripotent Stem Cells in a 3D Culture System

Researchers used CRISPR/Cas9 to create a NKX2.2-EGFP human embryonic stem cell reporter line that enabled fine-tuning of early oligodendrocyte precursor cell specification and identification of conditions that markedly increased the number of OLIG2⁺ and NKX2.2⁺ cells generated from human pluripotent stem cells. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article

Using CRISPR-Cas9 to Generate Gene-Corrected Autologous iPSCs for the Treatment of Inherited Retinal Degeneration

The authors developed CRISPR-Cas9-mediated genome editing strategies to target and correct the three most common types of disease-causing variants in patient-derived induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs): exonic, deep intronic and dominant gain-of-function. [Mol Ther] Abstract

3D Bioprinting Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Constructs for In Situ Cell Proliferation and Successive Multilineage Differentiation

Employing a clinically amenable polysaccharide-based bioink, investigators describe the first example of bioprinting human iPSCs for in situ expansion and sequential differentiation. [Adv Healthc Mater] Abstract

2102Ep Embryonal Carcinoma Cells Have Compromised Respiration and Shifted Bioenergetic Profile Distinct from H9 Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Researchers compared the mitochondrial bioenergetic profile of normal pluripotent human embryonic stem cells and relatively nullipotent embryonal carcinoma cells. [Biochim Biophys Acta] Abstract

Tenogenic Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells

The authors determined whether human embryonic stem cells (hESC) could be induced to differentiate into tendon-like cells by the addition of exogenous bone morphogenetic protein (BMP)12. hESCs were maintained with or without BMP12/13 supplementation, or supplemented with BMP12/13 and the SMAD signaling cascade blocking agent, dorsomorphin. [Tissue Eng Part A] Abstract

Ceramide and S1P Signaling in Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation

Researchers showed simple as well as state-of-the-art methods to analyze sphingolipids in differentiating embryonic stem (ES) cells and discuss new protocols to use ceramide and sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) analogs for the guided differentiation of mouse ES cells toward neuronal and glial lineage. [Methods Mol Biol] Abstract

How Plastic Are Pericytes?

Researchers challenge the current view that pericytes can differentiate into other cells and reopens questions about their plasticity. This emerging knowledge is important not only for the understanding of development but may inform treatments for diseases. [Stem Cells Dev] Abstract

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ViaCyte Receives IND Allowance from FDA and Clearance from Health Canada to Commence International Clinical Trial of PEC-Direct Cell Therapy for High-Risk Type 1 Diabetes

ViaCyte, Inc. announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has allowed the company’s Investigational New Drug Application (IND) for the PEC-Direct™ product candidate, a novel islet cell replacement therapy in development as a potential cure for patients with type 1 diabetes who are at high risk for acute life-threatening complications. [ViaCyte, Inc.] Press Release

OICR Launches Five All-Star Teams of Ontario Scientists to Tackle Some of the Deadliest Forms of Cancer

Reza Moridi, Ontario’s Minister of Research, Innovation and Science announced that the Institute is funding five collaborative, cross-disciplinary and inter-institutional Translational Research Initiatives with a total of $24 million over the next two years. [Ontario Institute for Cancer Research (OICR)] Press Release

UK Election: Science Spending Pledges Overshadowed by Brexit

Ahead of a UK election that will decide who leads the country’s exit negotiations with the European Union, a remarkable consensus has emerged among the main national parties. All three have pledged in their manifestos to spend more money on science. Each is “putting science at the heart of their program for the future of Britain”, says Sarah Main, director of the London-based Campaign for Science and Engineering. Yet as the uncertainty of Brexit hangs over the future of British science, for many researchers the promises may seem more like consolation prizes. [Nature News] Editorial

NIH Scales Back Plan to Curb Support for Big Labs after Hearing Concerns

Faced with a barrage of criticism, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) has scaled back a plan to cap its support for individual labs in order to free up funds for more scientists. The changes did not appease scientists who gave NIH a tongue-lashing at a meeting of NIH’s Council of Councils. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

House Science Panel Joins Trump in Questioning Research Overhead Payments

A hearing on how the U.S. government defrays the cost of doing federally funded research on college campuses might put most people to sleep. But when budgets are tight, the billions of dollars being spent each year on so-called overhead become an irresistible target for lawmakers. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW TERMIS Americas
December 3-6, 2017
Charlotte, United States

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NEW Postdoctoral Fellow – Bioinformatics (Stanford University)

Scientific Sales Representative – Media (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

Postdoctoral Position – Regulation of Embryonic Stem Cells (Joslin Diabetes Center)

Senior/Principle Research Associate – Cell and Molecular Biology (Editas Medicine)

Assistant Professor – Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (Harvard University)

Postdoctoral Research Scientist – Cardiovascular (Columbia University Medical Center)

Postdoctoral Position – Cellular Modeling of Diabetes (University of California, San Diego)

Postdoctoral Research Associate – Stem Cell Technology (Keck School of Medicine, University of Southern California)

Postdoctoral Position – Epigenetics of Pluripotent Stem Cells (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Multiple Areas (University of Oklahoma)

Assistant or Associate Member – Stem CellGene Therapy (Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center)

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

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