ESC & iPSC News Volume 6.09 | Mar 9 2011

A New Stem Cell Enters the Mix: Induced Conditional Self-Renewing Progenitor (ICSP) Cells
Researchers outline a method to obtain a new kind of stem cell they call “induced conditional self-renewing progenitor cells.” [Press release from Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute discussing online prepublication in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA]

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Somatic Coding Mutations in Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
Researchers show that 22 human induced pluripotent stem cell lines reprogrammed using five different methods each contained an average of five protein-coding point mutations in the regions sampled (an estimated six protein-coding point mutations per exome). [Nature]

Short-Term Immunosuppression Promotes Engraftment of Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells
This report describes a short-term immunosuppressive approach capable of inducing engraftment of transplanted embryonic stem cells and induced pluripotent stem cells, providing a significant improvement in our mechanistic understanding of the critical role costimulatory molecules play in leukocyte activation. [Cell Stem Cell]

LRRK2 Mutant iPSC-Derived DA Neurons Demonstrate Increased Susceptibility to Oxidative Stress
Researchers report generation of induced pluripotent stem cells that carry the p.G2019S mutation (G2019S-iPSCs) in the Leucine-Rich Repeat Kinase-2 (LRRK2) gene, the most common Parkinson’s disease-related mutation, and their differentiation into dopaminergic (DA) neurons. [Cell Stem Cell]

Targeting SOX17 in Human Embryonic Stem Cells Creates Unique Strategies for Isolating and Analyzing Developing Endoderm
Prospective isolation, lineage tracing, and developmental studies of SOX17⁺ human embryonic stem cell progeny have revealed fundamental aspects of human endodermal biology. [Cell Stem Cell]

FGF2 Sustains NANOG and Switches the Outcome of BMP4-Induced Human Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation
Results demonstrate that FGF2 signaling switches the outcome of BMP4-induced differentiation of human embryonic stem cells by maintaining NANOG levels through the MEK-ERK pathway. [Cell Stem Cell]

Isolation of Epiblast Stem Cells from Preimplantation Mouse Embryos
Researchers show that epiblast stem cells can be routinely derived from pre-implantation mouse embryos. [Cell Stem Cell]

A Bioinformatic Assay for Pluripotency in Human Cells
Researchers report PluriTest, a robust open-access bioinformatic assay of pluripotency in human cells based on their gene expression profiles. [Nat Methods]

Defining the Earliest Step of Cardiovascular Progenitor Specification During Embryonic Stem Cell Differentiation
The study identifies the early multipotent cardiovascular progenitors residing at the top of the cellular hierarchy of cardiovascular lineages during embryonic stem cell differentiation. [J Cell Biol]

Self-Renewal Induced Efficiently, Safely, and Effective Therapeutically with One Regulatable Gene in a Human Somatic Progenitor Cell
Precursor/progenitor cells from the organ of therapeutic concern typically lack only one critical attribute – the capacity for sustained self-renewal. Researchers speculated that this could be induced in a regulatable manner such that cells proliferate only in vitro and differentiate in vivo without the need for promoting pluripotence or specifying lineage identity. [Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A]

The Controlled Generation of Functional Basal Forebrain Cholinergic Neurons from Human Embryonic Stem Cells
Researchers demonstrate here a method for the derivation of a predominantly pure population of basal forebrain cholinergic neurons from human embryonic stem cells using diffusible ligands present in the forebrain at developmentally relevant time periods. [Stem Cells]

Assessment of the Myogenic Stem Cell Compartment Following Transplantation of Pax3/Pax7-Induced Embryonic Stem Cell-Derived Progenitors
Researchers show that Pax7, like Pax3, can drive the expansion of an embryonic stem-derived myogenic progenitor with significant muscle regenerative potential. [Stem Cells]

Fibrocell Science, Inc. Accesses Patents from Stanford University on Fibroblast Research to Advance Cell Therapy
Fibrocell Science, Inc. announced that it has entered into a scientific collaboration with University of California, Los Angeles to research the conversion of dermal fibroblasts into pure functional human cell types that may have greater regenerative capacity. In addition, Fibrocell announces they have accessed key patents from Stanford University to enable the process. [Fibrocell Science, Inc. Press Release]

Case Western Reserve Positions Regenerative Medicine Center for Future Growth
In a move to streamline and accelerate the research and development of new stem cell and regenerative medicine technologies, the National Center for Regenerative Medicine and the Center for Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at Case Western Reserve University have been rolled into a single entity housed within the university’s School of Medicine. [Case Western Reserve University Press Release]

New Panel to Clear Clinical Trials
In a bid to tighten the regulatory control over cell-based therapies taking place in the country, the office of the Drugs Controller General of India has set up a new committee of experts to clear the clinical trial programs related to cell research. [Department of Health Research, India]

Irish Election Raises Questions for Stem Cell Research
Irish scientists have to worry about whether progress will be maintained under Fine Gael, the party that swept to victory in the recent election and is likely to form a coalition government with the Labour party. But stem cell researchers have most to worry about, since Fine Gael is opposed to research using human embryonic stem cells. [Science Foundation Ireland and Health Research Board, Ireland]

Coalition Briefs Policymakers on FDA’s Role as Republicans Weigh Cuts
A coalition of drug makers and consumer advocates is spreading the word about the Food and Drug Administration’s (FDA) role in the national economy as Republicans weigh sharp cuts to the agency. [Food and Drug Administration, United States]

Request for Comments on Human Subjects Protections in Scientific Studies (FR Doc. 2011-4658) [Department of Health and Human Services, United States]
 
Annual Summary for Fiscal Year 2010 – Biological Product and HCT/P Deviation Report [Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, Untied States]
 
National Center for Research Resources; Notice of Closed Meetings (FR Doc. 2011-4825) [National Institutes of Health, United States]
 
National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute; Notice of Closed Meetings (FR Doc. 2011-4548) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings (FR Doc. 2011-5354) [National Institutes of Health, United States]
 
Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings (FR Doc. 2011-4945) [National Institutes of Health, United States]
 
Center for Scientific Review; Notice of Closed Meetings (FR Doc. 2011-5040) [National Institutes of Health, United States]

NEW 2nd Annual Translational Regenerative Medicine Forum
April 6-8, 2011
Washington, DC, Untied States

NEW Stem Cells for Drug Developers 2011
April 26-29, 2011
Boston, United States

NEW 7th Stem Cell Research & Therapeutics
May 26-27, 2011
Boston, United States

NEW 1st Annual Cambridge Stem Cell International Symposium: Pluripotency and Development
July 6-7, 2011
Cambridge, United Kingdom

NEW The International Congress on Controversies in Stem Cell Transplantation and Cellular Therapies (COSTEM)
September 8-11, 2011
Berlin, Germany

NEW Cell Therapy Manufacturing – Stem Cells and Immunotherapeutics
December 1-2, 2011
London, United Kingdom

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

Lab Technologist – Human Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (STEMCELL Technologies)

Assistant Professor (University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine, Center for Cellular and Molecular Engineering)
 
Field Applications Specialist – Cell Therapy (Medical) (Pall Corporation)

Postdoctoral Position – Germline Stem Cells (R. L. Brinster, School of Veterinary Medicine, University of Pennsylvania)

Postdoctoral Position in Stem Cell Biology (St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital)

Postdoctoral Fellow – Differentiation of Embryonic Stem Cells (Mount Sinai School of Medicine)

Stem Cell Biologist (Albert Einstein College of Medicine)

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