ESC & iPSC News Volume 12.35 | Sep 6 2017

TOP STORY

Curing Parkinson’s Disease Is Not for Monkey Brains

CiRA researchers show that matching donors and recipients reduces the immune rejection of induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neurons for treatment of Parkinson’s disease in monkeys. The finding will be a basis to treat human patients. [Press release from the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application discussing online prepublication in Nat Commun] Press Release 1 | Press Release 2 | Editorial 1 | Editorial 2 | Full Article

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

First Critical Repressive H3K27me3 Marks in Embryonic Stem Cells Identified Using Designed Protein Inhibitor

Scientists describe the computational design of proteins that bind to the EZH2 interaction site on EED with subnanomolar affinity in vitro and form tight and specific complexes with EED in living cells. Induction of the EED binding proteins abolished H3K27 methylation in human embryonic stem cells and at all but the earliest stage blocked self-renewal, pinpointing the first critical repressive H3K27me3 marks in development. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract

A Single TCF Transcription Factor, Regardless of Its Activation Capacity, Is Sufficient for Effective Trilineage Differentiation of ESCs

Researchers describe quadruple-knockout (QKO) mouse ESCs lacking all full-length TCF/LEFs and cell lines rescued with TCF7 or TCF7L1. Despite dramatically different transactivation capacities, re-expression of TCF7L1 or TCF7 in QKO cells restores their tri-lineage differentiation ability, with similar lineage marker expression patterns and beating cardiomyocyte frequencies observed in embryoid bodies. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

A PITX3-EGFP Reporter Line Reveals Connectivity of Dopamine and Non-Dopamine Neuronal Subtypes in Grafts Generated from Human Embryonic Stem Cells

Investigators used a human PITX3-EGFP embryonic stem cell line to characterize the connectivity of stem cell-derived midbrain dopamine neurons in the dopamine-depleted host brain with an unprecedented level of specificity. They showed that the major A9 and A10 subclasses of implanted dopamine neurons innervate multiple, developmentally appropriate host targets but also that the majority of graft-derived connectivity is non-dopaminergic. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article

NK Cell Alloreactivity against KIR-Ligand-Mismatched HLA-Haploidentical Tissue Derived from HLA Haplotype-Homozygous iPSCs

The authors found that the T cells and vascular endothelial cells regenerated from HLA-homo-C1/C1 iPSCs were killed by specific natural killer cell subsets from a putative HLA-hetero-C1/C2 recipient. Such cytotoxicity was canceled when target cells were regenerated from iPSCs transduced with the C2 gene identical to the recipient. [Stem Cell Reports] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

RUNX1c Regulates Hematopoietic Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Possibly in Cooperation with Pro-Inflammatory Signaling

Scientists used hPSCs as model to study the role of RUNX1 in human embryonic hematopoiesis. Although the three RUNX1 isoforms a, b and c were induced in CD45⁺ hematopoietic cells, RUNX1c was the only isoform induced in hemato-endothelial progenitors/hemogenic endothelium. [Stem Cells] Abstract

Common microRNA–mRNA Interactions Exist among Distinct Porcine iPSC Lines Independent of Their Metastable Pluripotent States

Researchers performed conjoint analysis of small RNA-seq and mRNA-seq for three porcine-induced pluripotent stem cells (piPSC) lines which represent LIF dependence, FGF2 dependence and LFB2i dependence, respectively. They found there are sixteen common microRNAs which potentially target thirteen common mRNAs among the three piPSC lines. [Cell Death Dis] Full Article

Directed Differentiation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into Fallopian Tube Epithelium

Induced pluripotent stem cells were used to establish a novel 3-dimensional human fallopian tube epithelium organoid in vitro model containing the relevant cell types of the human fallopian tube as well as a luminal architecture that closely reflects the organization of fallopian tissues in vivo. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Activation of Pluripotent Genes in Hepatic Progenitor Cells in the Transition of Nonalcoholic Steatohepatitis to Pre-Malignant Lesions

The authors investigated the activation of pluripotent genes (c-Myc, Oct-4, KLF-4, and Nanog) and morphogenic gene (Gli-1) in hepatic progenitor cells from patient specimens and in an animal model to determine the possibility of normal stem/progenitor cells becoming the origin of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis-hepatocellular carcinoma (NASH-HCC). Expression of pluripotent and morphogenic genes in human NASH-HCC tissues was significantly upregulated compared to adjacent non-tumor liver tissues. [Lab Invest] Abstract

Kidney Generation with Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

The authors summarize the recent studies to induce nephron progenitor cells (NPCs) and kidney cells from hPSCs, studies of NPC expansion from mouse and human embryonic kidneys, and discuss possible approaches in vivo to regenerate kidneys with cell therapies and the development of bioengineered kidneys. [Stem Cells] Abstract

Epigenetic Foundations of Pluripotent Stem Cells that Recapitulate In Vivo Pluripotency

Scientists describe the developmental potential and epigenetic regulation of pluripotent stem cells in rodents and humans in vitro and discuss unsolved issues in developing strategies to capture in vivo pluripotency in vitro. [Lab Invest] Full Article

Stem Cell Therapies for Myocardial Infarction in Clinical Trials: Bioengineering and Biomaterial Aspects

Researchers describe (a) the current status of clinical trials of hPSCs compared with clinical trials of human adult or fetal stem cells, (b) the gap between fundamental research and application of human stem cells, (c) the use of biomaterials in clinical and pre-clinical studies of stem cells, and finally (d) trends in bioengineering to promote stem cell therapies for patients with myocardial infarction. [Lab Invest] Abstract

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

Avery Therapeutics Inc. To Be Honored with An AZBio Fast Lane Award

The Arizona Bioindustry Association will honor Avery Therapeutics Inc. with an AZBio Fast Lane Award at the 2017 AZBio Awards. Arizona life science and business leaders as well as guests from across the country will be on hand to applaud the Avery Therapeutics team for their progress in developing a novel lifesaving medical device to address heart failure. [Arizona Bioindustry Association, Inc. (Business Wire, Inc.)] Press Release

Dr. Peter Glazer Receives Prestigious Outstanding Investigator Award for Cancer Research

The National Cancer Institute has named Peter M. Glazer, M.D., Ph.D., as a recipient of its Outstanding Investigator Award. Glazer is the Robert E. Hunter Professor of Therapeutic Radiology, professor of genetics and chairman of the department of Therapeutic Radiology at Yale School of Medicine and Yale Cancer Center. [Yale School of Medicine] Press Release

German Universities Plan for Life without Elsevier

A consortium of all German research organizations is locked in hostile and so far unsuccessful contract negotiations with Elsevier, demanding full open access for German-authored papers and a model in which they pay per article published, not a flat journal subscription fee. [Times Higher Education] Editorial

Researchers Riled by Lack of Detail in Brexit Science Plans

More than one year after UK citizens voted to leave the European Union (EU) and just over two months into ‘Brexit’ negotiations, the British government has finally laid out how it would like to handle scientific relationships with the EU after it leaves the bloc next year. Many scientists are less than impressed. [Nature News] Editorial

Senate Spending Panel Approves $2 Billion Raise for NIH in 2018

A Senate subcommittee approved a $2 billion raise, to $36.1 billion, for the National Institutes of Health (NIH) in the 2018 fiscal year. To the relief of research universities, the Senate draft spending bill would also block a Trump proposal to slash NIH payments to cover the overhead costs of research. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

Researchers Thought Peace in Colombia Would Mean More Science Funding. They Were Wrong

Wearing lab coats and hoisting placards with slogans such as “A country without science is a country without a future,” hundreds of scientists poured into plazas in cities across Colombia. Their beef: a proposed 42% cut to the 2018 budget of Colciencias, the nation’s science ministry in Bogotá, which doles out research grants and supports graduate students. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW The Royal Society: Mechanics of Development
February 5-7, 2018
Newport Pagnell, United Kingdom

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

NEW Postdoctoral Position – Molecular Medicine and Translational Research (Oslo University Hospital)

NEW Postdoctoral Position – Functional Cardiogenetics using iPSC-Derived Cardiac Myocytes (Maastricht University)

Technical Director – Personalized Stem Cell Banking (Brilliant Research)

Faculty Position – Stem Cell Research (University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center)

Assistant Professorship – Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine (University of Southern California Keck School of Medicine)

Director – Stem Cell Research Facility (Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center)

Senior Research Fellow/Principal Research Fellow – Stem Cell Research (University of Technology Sydney)

Postdoctoral Position – Islet Biology (Sanofi)

Lead Bioengineer – Parkinson’s Disease Research (Scaled Biolabs Inc.)

Research Associate – Parkinson’s Disease Research (Scaled Biolabs Inc.)

Postdoctoral Scientist – Stem Cell Biology (CRUK Manchester Institute)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Stem Cell Research (None)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Cellular Neuroscience/Stem Cell (UC San Diego)

Assistant Professor – Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology (University of Pennsylvania Perelman School of Medicine)

Postdoctoral Position – Mammalian Stem Cell Biology (New York University, School of Medicine)

Assistant Professor – Human Anatomy and Cell Science (University Of Manitoba)

Postdoctoral Position – Bioinformatics and Computational Biology (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)

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

Post-Doctoral/PhD Position – Stem Cell Biology & Metabolism (University of Freiburg)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Stem Cell Tissue Engineering (Stanford University)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Multiple Areas (University of Oklahoma)

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