Gata4

[Nature Communications] By using mouse genetics, lineage tracing, and organoid culture, scientists examined the development of the squamous–columnar junction in the mouse stomach, and thus define the unique features of transitional epithelium.

[Stem Cells] Using the rat embryonic stem cells model, investigators showed that ERG1 was crucial in cardiomyocyte lineage commitment via interactions with integrin β1.

[Nature Communications] Investigators identified the histone methyltransferase Mll1 as a regulator of Wnt-driven intestinal cancer. Mll1 is highly expressed in Lgr5+ stem cells and human colon carcinomas with increased nuclear β-catenin.

[Aging] Human umbilical cord-MSCs were cultured on polyacrylamide hydrogels with stiffnesses corresponding to Young's modulus of 13-16kPa and 62-68kPa which mimic the stiffnesses of healthy heart tissue and fibrotic myocardium.

[Stem Cell Reports] Researchers describe a fully defined feeder-free protocol to generate early testis-like cells with the ability to be cultured as an organoid, from human induced pluripotent stem cells.

[Circulation] The authors showed that cardiomyocyte-specific deletion of Brd4 in adult mice leads to acute deterioration of cardiac contractile function with mutant animals demonstrating a transcriptomic signature enriched for decreased expression of genes critical for mitochondrial energy production.