ESC & iPSC News Volume 15.07 | Feb 26 2020

TOP STORY

Generation of Human Endothelium in Pig Embryos Deficient in ETV2

ETV2-null blastocysts were injected with human iPSCs overexpressing the antiapoptotic factor BCL2, transferred to synchronized gilts and analyzed between embryonic day 17 and embryonic day 18. In these embryos, all endothelial cells were of human origin. [Nat Biotechnol] Full Article

(Ranked by impact factor of the journal)

Targeting the Cytoskeleton to Direct Pancreatic Differentiation of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Using latrunculin A to depolymerize the cytoskeleton during endocrine induction, researchers developed a 2D differentiation protocol for generating human PSC-derived β cells with improved in vitro and in vivo function. [Nat Biotechnol] Abstract

Histone H3K27 Acetylation Is Dispensable for Enhancer Activity in Mouse Embryonic Stem Cells

By substituting lysine 27 in histone variant H3.3 with arginine in mouse ESCs, investigators diminished the vast majority of H3K27ac at enhancers. [Genome Biol] Full Article

Metabolic Switch and Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition Cooperate to Regulate Pluripotency

When a chemically defined medium was used to induce early epithelial-mesenchymal transition during mouse reprogramming, a facilitated oxidative phosphorylation to glycolysis was also observed at the same time. Additional investigations suggested that the two events formed a positive feedback loop via transcriptional activation, cooperated to upregulate epigenetic factors such as Bmi1, Ctcf, Ezh2, Kdm2b, and Wdr5, and accelerated pluripotency induction at the early stage. [EMBO J] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

Directed Differentiation of Notochord-Like and Nucleus Pulposus-Like Cells Using Human Pluripotent Stem Cells

Scientists report the development of a protocol for directed in vitro differentiation of human PSCs into notochord-like and nucleus pulposus-like cells of the disc. [Cell Rep] Full Article | Graphical Abstract

A Lithium-Containing Biomaterial Promotes Chondrogenic Differentiation of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells with Reducing Hypertrophy

Researchers applied ionic products of the lithium-containing bioceramic and individual Li⁺ in the direct chondrogenic differentiation of human iPSCs. [Stem Cell Res Ther] Full Article

Transplantation of Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes Improves Myocardial Function and Reverses Ventricular Remodeling in Infarcted Rat Hearts

Four weeks after intramyocardial injection of iPSC-cardiomyocytes (CMs), animals undergoing iPSC-CM transplantation had lower mortality than the control group. [Stem Cell Res Ther] Full Article

IRF5 Promotes Influenza-Induced Inflammatory Responses in Human iPSC-Derived Myeloid Cells and Murine Models

To investigate the role of interferon regulatory factor (IRF5) in mediating human inflammatory responses by myeloid cells to recognition of influenza A virus (IAV), scientists employed human iPSCs with biallelic mutations in IRF5, demonstrating iPS-derived dendritic cells with biallelic mutations could be used to investigate regulation of human virus-induced immune responses. [J Virol] Abstract | Full Article

Chromosome 19 MicroRNA Cluster Enhances Cell Reprogramming by Inhibiting Epithelial-to-Mesenchymal Transition

Exposure of human iPSCs to hypoxia or differentiation of iPSCs into either cytotrophoblast-stem-like cells or extravillous trophoblast-like cells under hypoxia reduced chromosome 19 expression and increased epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition genes. [Sci Rep] Full Article

Development of Physiologically Responsive Human iPSC-Derived Intestinal Epithelium to Study Barrier Dysfunction in IBD

Investigators developed an in vitro model of intestinal permeability using iPSC-derived human intestinal organoids (HIOs) and human colonic organoids (HCOs) to study barrier dysfunction. iPSCs were generated from healthy controls, adult onset inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and very early onset IBD patients and differentiated into HIOs and HCOs. [Int J Mol Sci] Full Article

Investigating Cone Photoreceptor Development Using Patient-Derived NRL Null Retinal Organoids

Researchers utilized iPSC organoid models of retinal development to molecularly define developmental alterations in a human model of neural retina leucine zipper (NRL) loss. [Commun Biol] Full Article

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Small-Molecule-Mediated Reprogramming: A Silver Lining for Regenerative Medicine

The authors summarize research trends in reprogramming cells using small molecules and growth factors, including their modes of action. [Exp Mol Med] Full Article

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

UCLA Raises $5.49 Billion in One of Most Ambitious Campaigns Ever by a Public University

The Centennial Campaign for University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) has raised $5.49 billion. As UCLA enters its second century, the funds are already supporting a broad array of priorities, including student scholarships and fellowships, faculty research, and programs that enrich communities in Los Angeles and beyond. [University of California, Los Angeles] Press Release

MTF Biologics Awards $1.8 Million in 2019 Extramural Research Grants

MTF Biologics has awarded over $1.8 million in funding to twelve researchers across the nation through its 2019 Extramural Research Grants Program. [MTF Biologics (Business Wire, Inc.)] Press Release

Federal Judge Rules Clinical Trial Sponsors Must Publish a Decade’s Worth of Missing Data

For years, government research agencies have misinterpreted a law that requires them to collect and post clinical trial data, a federal judge ruled this week, leaving behind a 10-year gap in data that now must be made publicly available. [STAT News] Editorial

Contract Offers Unprecedented Look at Google Deal to Obtain Patient Data from the University of California

It was the fall of 2015 when researchers from Google and the University of California, San Francisco, first sat down together to hash out a research collaboration in an area that has since exploded with activity: using artificial intelligence to make predictions in the hospital. [STAT News] Editorial

White House Formally Invites Public Comment on Open-Access Policies

The White House issued a notice seeking comment on its effort to enhance public access to federally funded research. It’s an old idea creating new controversy. White House Office of Science and Technology Policy Director Kelvin Droegemeier is pushing back against publishers that in December said the administration was quietly pursuing an executive order to require immediate free distribution of taxpayer funded research. [ScienceInsider] Editorial

NEW FGF Signaling: Understanding Function and Devising Therapeutic Tools
May 10-15, 2020
Lucca, Italy

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

NEW Head – Automated Stem Cell and Organoid Facility (Fondazione Human Technopole)

Postdoctoral Scholarship – Non-Coding RNAs (University of Gothenburg)

Postdoctoral Associate – Cerebral Organoids (Weill Cornell Medicine)

Research Assistant – Cellular Generation and Phenotyping (Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute)

Postdoctoral Researcher – Human iPS Models of Parkinson’s Disease (Karolinska Institutet)

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 Research Fellow – Endocrinology (Cedars-Sinai Medical Center)

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

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