ESC & iPSC News Volume 12.23 | Jun 14 2017

TOP STORY

Pramel7 Mediates Ground-State Pluripotency through Proteasomal–Epigenetic Combined Pathways

Scientists showed that PRAME-like 7 (Pramel7), a protein highly expressed in the inner cell mass but expressed at low levels in ESCs, targets for proteasomal degradation UHRF1, a key factor for DNA methylation maintenance. [Nat Cell Biol] Abstract

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

In Vitro Differentiation of Human Embryonic Stem Cells into Ovarian Follicle-Like Cells

The authors report that human embryonic stem cells can be induced to differentiate into ovarian follicle-like cells in vitro. [Nat Commun] Full Article

CryoPause: A New Method to Immediately Initiate Experiments after Cryopreservation of Pluripotent Stem Cells

Researchers describe a modification of PSC workflows that eliminates a major variable for nearly all PSC experiments: the quality and quantity of the PSC starting material. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article

Long Noncoding RNA Moderates MicroRNA Activity to Maintain Self-Renewal in Embryonic Stem Cells

Scientists demonstrated that Cyrano contributes to ESC maintenance, as its depletion results in the loss of hallmarks of self-renewal. Delineation of Cyrano‘s network through transcriptomics revealed widespread effects on signaling pathways and gene expression networks that contribute to ESC maintenance. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Molecular Imaging of Human Embryonic Stem Cells Stably Expressing Human PET Reporter Genes after Zinc Finger Nucleases-Mediated Genome Editing

Investigators used zinc finger nucleases to induce stable expression of human imaging reporter genes into the safe harbor locus adeno-associated virus integration site 1 in human ESCs. [J Nucl Med] Abstract

Modeling Congenital Hyperinsulinism with ABCC8-Deficient Human Embryonic Stem Cells Generated by CRISPR/Cas9

Researchers captured the phenotype of excess insulin secretion through pancreatic differentiation of ABCC8-deficient stem cells generated by the CRISPR/Cas9 system. [Sci Rep] Full Article

PHLDA3 Impedes Somatic Cell Reprogramming by Activating Akt-GSK3β Pathway

The authors report that PHLDA3, a p53 target gene, functions as a blockage of iPSCs generation by activating the Akt-GSK3β pathway. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Effects of Mechanical Stimulation on the Reprogramming of Somatic Cells into Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Equiaxial stretching enhanced reprogramming efficiency without affecting the viral transduction rate. iPSCs induced by transduction of four reprogramming factors and application of equiaxial stretching had characteristics typical of iPSCs in terms of pluripotency and differentiation potentials. [Stem Cell Res Ther] Full Article

Testosterone Improves the Differentiation Efficiency of Insulin-Producing Cells from Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

Researchers found that testosterone (T) improves the differentiation efficiency of insulin-producing cells from human iPSCs. The addition of T into routine differentiation formula for pancreatic β cells increases the differentiation efficiency from 12% to 35%. [PLoS One] Full Article

Modeling Neurodegenerative Diseases with Patient-Derived Induced Pluripotent Cells: Possibilities and Challenges

The authors review findings from iPSC-based modeling of selected neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease, frontotemporal dementia and spinocerebellar ataxia. [N Biotechnol] Abstract

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

Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult Licenses Cell Culture Data to Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult (CGT Catapult) announced it has licensed data from its pluripotent stem cell development program ‘Cell Plasticity’ to Ajinomoto Co., Inc., further advancing CGT Catapult’s place as one of the global leaders in the development of solutions for the industrialization of cell therapies. [The Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult] Press Release

Patients with Complete Paralysis Show Additional Recovery of Arm, Hand and Finger Function at Nine-Months after Treatment with Asterias’ AST-OPC1

Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc. announced that new nine-month follow-up data from the AIS-A 10 million cell cohort in the company’s ongoing SCiStar Phase I/IIa clinical trial shows three of six patients have now recovered two levels of motor function and previously-announced improvements in arm, hand and finger function at three-months and six-months following administration of AST-OPC1 have been confirmed and further increased at nine-months. [Asterias Biotherapeutics, Inc.] Press Release

Empty Rhetoric over Data Sharing Slows Science

Government agencies lack the funds to build platforms for data sharing and resist taking responsibility for such infrastructure. They may hope that universities will host data, but the development of institutional repositories is patchy, and to rely on them is effectively to discourage common data standards and curation. [Nature News] Editorial

Can Fake Names Tease Out NIH Reviewer Bias?

When the label “white male” is attached to a research grant application, do peer reviewers give it a better score? That’s the question psychologist Patricia Devine of the University of Wisconsin in Madison has spent the past four years, and more than $1 million from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in Bethesda, Maryland, trying to answer with an unusual experiment. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Curiosity and Irritation Meet Macron’s Effort to Lure Foreign Scientists to France

The French government unveiled a website aimed at attracting foreign scientists with four-year grants worth up to €1.5 million each. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Trump Names Sharpless to Lead U.S. Cancer Institute

President Donald Trump announced his intention to appoint Norman “Ned” Sharpless to be the next director of the National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Maryland. Sharpless, who is 50 years old, is a physician and currently director of the Lineberger Comprehensive Cancer Center at the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill. He also holds an academic appointment at the university’s school of medicine. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW Keystone Symposia: Regenerative Biology and Applications: Cell Differentiation, Tissue Organization and Biomedical Engineering
October 15-19, 2017
Hong Kong, Hong Kong

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

NEW Postdoctoral Research Fellow – Bioinformatics of Single Cell Genomics (Institute of Molecular Biology)

Scientific Sales Representative – Media (STEMCELL Technologies Inc.)

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

Postdoctoral Fellow – Bioinformatics (Stanford University)

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

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)

Recruit Top Talent: Reach potential candidates by posting your organization’s career opportunities on the Connexon Creative Job Board at no cost.

Have we missed an important article or publication in ESC & iPSC News? Click here to submit!

Comments or suggestions? Submit your feedback here.