Hypoxic Priming of mESCs Accelerates Vascular-Lineage Differentiation through HIF1-Mediated Inverse Regulation of Oct4 and Vascular Endothelial Growth Factor Scientists investigated whether a short exposure to hypoxia efficiently directed and promoted mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) to differentiate into vascular-lineage. [EMBO Mol Med] Abstract Epigenetic Stability, Adaptability, and Reversibility in Human Embryonic Stem Cells Investigators found that as an initial response to altered culture conditions, human embryonic stem cells change their transcription profile for hundreds of genes and their DNA methylation profiles for several genes outside the core pluripotency network. [Proc Natl Acad Sci USA] Abstract Microfluidic Single Cell Analysis Show Porcine Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Endothelial Cells Improve Myocardial Function by Paracrine Activation Researchers aimed to successfully derive endothelial cells from porcine induced pluripotent stem cells and demonstrate their potential utility for the treatment of myocardial ischemia. [Circ Res] Abstract Deficient DNA Damage Response and Cell Cycle Checkpoints Lead to Accumulation of Point Mutations in Human Embryonic Stem Cells Findings demonstrated that, due to deficient DNA damage response, the modest nucleotide excision repair activity in human embryonic stem cells is insufficient to prevent increased mutagenesis. [Stem Cells] Abstract DNA and Chromatin Modification Networks Distinguish Stem Cell Pluripotent Ground States To understand the molecular basis of pluripotency, researchers analyzed the nuclear proteomes of mouse embryonic and epiblast stem cells to identify protein networks that regulate their respective pluripotent states. [Mol Cell Proteomics] Abstract | Full Article Marked Hyperglycemia Attenuates Anesthetic Preconditioning in Human-Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cardiomyocytes To address the role of hyperglycemia in the inability of diabetic individuals to be preconditioned, scientists used human cardiomyocytes differentiated from induced pluripotent stem cells generated from patients with or without type 2 diabetes mellitus to investigate the efficacy of preconditioning in varying glucose conditions. [Anesthesiology] Abstract Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells Differentiated into Chondrogenic Lineage via Generation of Mesenchymal Progenitor Cells Researchers examined the chondrogenic differentiation capability of human induced pluripotent stem cells using a multistep culture method consisting of embryoid body (EB) formation, cell outgrowth from EBs, monolayer culture of sprouted cells from EBs, and three-dimensional pellet culture. [Stem Cells Dev] Abstract Analysis of Blastocyst Culture of Discarded Embryos and Its Significance for Establishing Human Embryonic Stem Cell Lines In establishing human embryonic stem cell lines (hESCs) with discarded embryos, researchers suggest that D3 non-pronucleus (0PN) or 1PN embryos with seven to nine blastomeres should be first selected, because they can improve high-quality blastulation rate which can increase the efficiency of hESC establishment. [J Cell Biochem] Abstract |