Scientific Resources

The neural crest is a source to produce multipotent neural crest stem cells that have a potential to differentiate into diverse cell types. The transcription factor SOX10 is expressed through early neural crest progenitors and stem cells in vertebrates. Here we report the generation of SOX10-Nano-lantern (NL) reporter human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPS) by using CRISPR/Cas9 systems,that are beneficial to investigate the generation and maintenance of neural crest progenitor cells. SOX10-NL positive cells are produced transiently from hiPS cells by treatment with TGFβ inhibitor SB431542 and GSK3 inhibitor CHIR99021. We found that all SOX10-NL-positive cells expressed an early neural crest marker NGFR,however SOX10-NL-positive cells purified from differentiated hiPS cells progressively attenuate their NL-expression under proliferation. We therefore attempted to maintain SOX10-NL-positive cells with additional signaling on the plane and sphere culture conditions. These SOX10-NL cells provide us to investigate mass culture with neural crest cells for stem cell research. View Publication

Mitochondrial dysfunction has been demonstrated to result in premature aging due to its effects on stem cells. Nevertheless,a full understanding of the role of mitochondrial bioenergetics through differentiation is still lacking. Here we show the bioenergetics profile of human stem cells of embryonic origin differentiating along the hepatic lineage. Our study reveals especially the transition between hepatic specification and hepatic maturation as dependent on mitochondrial respiration and demonstrates that even though differentiating cells are primarily dependent on glycolysis until induction of hepatocyte maturation,oxidative phosphorylation is essential at all stages of differentiation. View Publication

The recent Zika virus (ZIKV) outbreak,which mainly affected Brazil and neighbouring states,demonstrated the paucity of information concerning the epidemiology of several flaviruses,but also highlighted the lack of available agents with which to treat such emerging diseases. Here,we show that heparin,a widely used anticoagulant,while exerting a modest inhibitory effect on Zika Virus replication,fully prevents virus-induced cell death of human neural progenitor cells (NPCs). View Publication

Realization of clinical potential of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) in bone regenerative medicine requires development of simple and safe biomaterials for expansion of hPSCs followed by directing their lineage commitment to osteoblasts. In the present study,a chemically defined peptide-decorated polycaprolactone (PCL) nanofibrous microenvironment was prepared through electrospinning technology and subsequent conjugation with vitronectin peptide to promote the culture and osteogenic potential of hPSCs in vitro. The results indicated that hPSCs successfully proliferated and maintained their pluripotency on the biointerface of peptide-conjugated nanofibers without Matrigel under defined conditions. Moreover,the prepared niche exhibited an appealing ability in promoting directed differentiation of hPSCs to osteoblastic phenotype without embryoid body formation step,determined from the cell morphological alteration,alkaline phosphate activity,and osteogenesis-related gene expression,as well as protein production. Such well-defined,xeno-free,and safe nanofiber scaffolds that allow the survival and facilitate osteo-differentiation of hPSCs provide a novel platform for hPSCs differentiation via cell-nanofiber interplay,and possess great value in accelerating the translational perspectives of hPSCs in bone tissue engineering. View Publication

Human pluripotent stem cells derived cardiomyocytes (PSC-CMs) have been widely used for disease modeling,drug safety screening,and preclinical cell therapy to regenerate myocardium. Most studies have utilized PSC-CM grown in vitro for a relatively short period after differentiation. These PSC-CMs demonstrated structural,electrophysiological,and mechanical features of primitive cardiomyocytes. A few studies have extended in vitro PSC-CM culture time and reported improved maturation of structural and electromechanical properties. The degree of mitochondrial maturation,however,remains unclear. This study characterized the development of mitochondria during prolonged in vitro culture. PSC-CM demonstrated an improved mitochondrial maturation with prolonged culture,in terms of increased mitochondrial relative abundance,enhanced membrane potential,and increased activity of several mitochondrial respiratory complexes. These are in parallel with the maturation of other cellular components. However,the maturation of mitochondria in PSC-CMs grown for extended in vitro culture exhibits suboptimal maturation when compared with the maturation of mitochondria observed in the human fetal heart during similar time interval. View Publication

BACKGROUND Fabry disease (FD) is a lysosomal storage disease in which glycosphingolipids (GB3) accumulate in organs of the human body,leading to idiopathic hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and target organ damage. Its pathophysiology is still poorly understood. OBJECTIVES We aimed to generate patient-specific induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC) from FD patients presenting cardiomyopathy to determine whether the model could recapitulate key features of the disease phenotype and to investigate the energy metabolism in Fabry disease. METHODS Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a 30-year-old Chinese man with a diagnosis of Fabry disease,GLA gene (IVS4+919G>A) mutation were reprogrammed into iPSCs and differentiated into iPSC-CMs and energy metabolism was analyzed in iPSC-CMs. RESULTS The FD-iPSC-CMs recapitulated numerous aspects of the FD phenotype including reduced GLA activity,cellular hypertrophy,GB3 accumulation and impaired contractility. Decreased energy metabolism with energy utilization shift to glycolysis was observed,but the decreased energy metabolism was not modified by enzyme rescue replacement (ERT) in FD-iPSCs-CMs. CONCLUSION This model provided a promising in vitro model for the investigation of the underlying disease mechanism and development of novel therapeutic strategies for FD. This potential remedy for enhancing the energetic network and utility efficiency warrants further study to identify novel therapies for the disease. View Publication

Tissue-resident macrophages,such as microglia,Kupffer cells,and Langerhans cells,derive from Myb-independent yolk sac (YS) progenitors generated before the emergence of hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Myb-independent YS-derived resident macrophages self-renew locally,independently of circulating monocytes and HSCs. In contrast,adult blood monocytes,as well as infiltrating,gut,and dermal macrophages,derive from Myb-dependent HSCs. These findings are derived from the mouse,using gene knockouts and lineage tracing,but their applicability to human development has not been formally demonstrated. Here,we use human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a tool to model human hematopoietic development. By using a CRISPR-Cas9 knockout strategy,we show that human iPSC-derived monocytes/macrophages develop in an MYB-independent,RUNX1-,and SPI1 (PU.1)-dependent fashion. This result makes human iPSC-derived macrophages developmentally related to and a good model for MYB-independent tissue-resident macrophages,such as alveolar and kidney macrophages,microglia,Kupffer cells,and Langerhans cells. View Publication

Classical lissencephaly is a genetic neurological disorder associated with mental retardation and intractable epilepsy,and Miller-Dieker syndrome (MDS) is the most severe form of the disease. In this study,to investigate the effects of MDS on human progenitor subtypes that control neuronal output and influence brain topology,we analyzed cerebral organoids derived from control and MDS-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) using time-lapse imaging,immunostaining,and single-cell RNA sequencing. We saw a cell migration defect that was rescued when we corrected the MDS causative chromosomal deletion and severe apoptosis of the founder neuroepithelial stem cells,accompanied by increased horizontal cell divisions. We also identified a mitotic defect in outer radial glia,a progenitor subtype that is largely absent from lissencephalic rodents but critical for human neocortical expansion. Our study,therefore,deepens our understanding of MDS cellular pathogenesis and highlights the broad utility of cerebral organoids for modeling human neurodevelopmental disorders. View Publication