The Stem Cell Podcast

Guest: Dr. Vivian Li is Group Leader of the Stem Cell and Cancer Biology Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute. The Li lab investigates how Wnt signaling controls stem cells in the healthy gut and during colorectal cancer development. The lab also aims to engineer functional intestinal constructs using patient-derived intestinal organoids. Featured Products and Resources: Protocol: CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing of Human Intestinal Organoids Try IntestiCult™ Organoid Growth Medium The Stem Cell Science Round Up Machine Learning and iPSC Approach for Drug Discovery – A machine learning approach has been developed to conduct network-based screens in iPSC-derived cells. The method identified a potential drug candidate for heart valve disease. Mapping the Developing Intestine – Using single-cell RNA sequencing and spatial transcriptomics, scientists have mapped the development of the human intestine over time. Sensory Neurons Promote HSC Mobilization – Scientists have shown that nociceptive nerves in the bone marrow, which are activated by external stimuli like ingestion of spicy foods, are required for hematopoietic stem cell mobilization. Understanding Intestinal Stem Cell Self-Renewal and Differentiation – Scientists have identified a specific intestinal stem cell niche signaling pathway, the Wnt/planar cell polarity pathway, that regulates intestinal stem cell self-renewal and lineage decisions. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Vivian Li Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Samira Musah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Biomedical Engineering and Associate Professor in Medicine at Duke University. The Musah lab applies stem cell biology to engineer functional models of the human kidney and brain, with the goal of developing novel therapeutic models for human kidney diseases and understanding the mechanisms of neurodegeneration in patients with chronic kidney disease and other pathological conditions. Featured Products and Resources:  STEMCELL Science News STEMCELL Technologies’ Organoid Information Hub The Stem Cell Science Round Up Promoting Cardiac Repair after Injury – Investigators have found that lymphoangiocrine signals promote cardiac growth, repair and cardioprotection in mice — a process that is mediated by the extracellular protein reelin. Restoring Sight by Rewinding the Epigenetic Clock – Inducing the expression of three Yamanaka transcription factors in mouse retinal ganglion cells restored youthful DNA methylation patterns, promoted axon regeneration after injury, and reversed vision loss. Mesenchymal Stromal Cells Drive Fibrosis – Scientists have identified two bone marrow mesenchymal stromal cell subsets that drive fibrosis and progression of myeloproliferative neoplasms. They identified a drug that inhibits the mechanism involved. New Tool for Cell Engineering– A comprehensive library of human transcription factors has been created that enables systematic investigation of transcription factor-based programming for cell engineering. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Samira Musah Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Christopher Thomas Scott is the Dalton Tomlin Professor of Medical Ethics and Health Policy at Baylor College of Medicine, and a member of the Daniel L. Duncan Comprehensive Cancer Center. Scott is also emeritus faculty of the Stanford University Center for Biomedical Ethics. His research centers on the ethical, legal, and social implications  of emerging biotechnologies. Featured Products and Resources: STEMCELL Technologies Survey Report: Where Is Pluripotent Stem Cell Research Now? Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Updates and Debates The Stem Cell Science Round Up Renewed Funding for Stem Cell Research in California – Voters in California have passed Proposition 14, which authorizes new government funding for the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine. Genetics and Skin Cancer Susceptibility – Children with Fanconi anemia have extreme susceptibility to squamous cell carcinoma. Using patient-derived cells, investigators identified a critical DNA repair pathway that maintains the structure and function of human skin. Membrane Tension Regulates Exit from Naive Pluripotency – Scientists have found that a decrease in membrane-to-cortex attachment is a cell-intrinsic mechanism that is essential for stem cells to exit pluripotency. Memory T Cells in Human Skin – Researchers identify features of human skin tissue-resident memory T cells that differ from their murine counterparts, and reveal a role for the skin environment in their long-term persistence. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Christopher Thomas Scott Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Matthias Lutolf is a Professor and Principal Investigator of the Laboratory of Stem Cell Bioengineering at the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne. The Lutolf lab uses cutting-edge bioengineering strategies for guiding stem cell-based development for the assembly of next-generation organoids with improved reproducibility and physiological relevance. Featured Products and Resources: Organoid News E-Book – Organoid Research Techniques: Evolution and Applications The Stem Cell Science Round Up Eardrum Stem Cells – Researchers have identified stem cells of the eardrum, and found that their migration over the tissue helps maintain homeostasis. Using “Monster Tumors” to Study Human Development – Investigators propose teratomas as a promising platform for studying human development. Biobank of Rare, Lethal Tumors – An organoid biobank of gastroenteropancreatic neuroendocrine neoplasms has been created and used to understand the genetics and pathology of the disease. Organoids Produce Embryonic Heart -Researchers grew embryonic organoids, called gastruloids, from mouse embryonic stem cells that mimicked the early stages of heart development in the embryo. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Matthias Lutolf Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: In this special episode of the Stem Cell Podcast, we speak with three PhD students from different parts of the world about their research in and outside of the lab. Naveed Tavakol (pictured, right) is a biomedical engineering PhD student in the Laboratory for Stem Cells and Tissue Engineering at Columbia University under the advisement of Dr. Gordana Vunjak-Novakovic. As a National Science Foundation graduate research fellow, he is working on translational approaches to integrated organ-on-a-chip systems, with a specific focus on the hematopoietic system. Nathasia Mudiwa Muwanigwa (pictured, left) is a PhD researcher in the Developmental and Cellular Biology group at the Luxembourg Center of Systems Biomedicine. She uses midbrain-specific organoids to model and study the molecular and cellular changes that occur in the midbrain during the progression of Parkinson’s disease. She is also the co-founder of Visibility STEM Africa. Sarthak Sinha (pictured, center) has been working in Dr. Jeff Biernaskie’s Lab at the University of Calgary since the ninth grade. Now as an MD-PhD Candidate and a Vanier Scholar, his doctoral project utilizes single-cell genomics to understand mechanisms driving skin fibrosis and regeneration across different mammals. Featured Products and Resources: STEMCELL Science News STEMCELL Technologies’ Organoid Information Hub The Stem Cell Science Round Up Using Organoids for COVID-19 Drug Screening – Researchers have developed lung and colonic organoid models to study SARS-CoV-2 infection and perform drug screening to identify candidate therapeutics. Making Airway Stem Cells from Patients’ Cells – iPSCs were directly differentiated into airway basal cells, a population resembling the stem cells of the airway epithelium. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Nathasia Mudiwa Muwanigwa, Sarthak Sinha, and Naveed Tavakol. Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Miki Ebisuya is a Group Leader at the European Molecular Biology Laboratory in Barcelona. Her lab focuses on synthetic developmental biology, where they reconstitute developmental mechanisms by making artificial gene circuits, and study interspecies differences by comparing organoids of different animals. Featured Products and Resources: ESC & iPSC News mTeSR™ Plus The Stem Cell Science Round Up Lab-Grown Tissue Grafts for Personalized Joint Replacement – Autologous fat-derived cells have been used to engineer cartilage-bone grafts that regenerated and repaired a jaw joint in a minipig model. SARS-CoV-2 Infection in the Brain – Using brain organoids, researchers have found that SARS-CoV-2 infects choroid plexus cells, but not neurons or glia. This infection damages the epithelium, leading to leakage. The Healing Power of Extracellular Vesicles – Using a heart-on-chip model, investigators have found that endothelial cell-derived extracellular vesicles contain cardioprotective proteins that rescue ischemia-reperfusion injury. How Plant Stem Cells Resist Infection – The meristem, the collection of stem cells that builds plants, is resistant to viral infection. Scientists have identified a transcription factor that triggers innate antiviral immunity in the meristem of Arabidopsis. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Miki Ebisuya Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Tom Cheung is an S H Ho Associate Professor of Life Science at the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology. His lab investigates the molecular pathways that control muscle stem cell quiescence and stem cell-mediated tissue regeneration. Featured Products and Resources: Muscle Cell News STEMCELL Technologies Human MyoCult™ Workflow The Stem Cell Science Round Up Organoid Model of Rare Genetic Disorder – Scientists generated organoids from individuals 22q11.2 deletion syndrome. They found defects in electrical activity, and identified a possible target to rescue phenotypes associated with the disease. Susceptibility of SARS-CoV-2 Infection in Brain Organoids – hiPSC-derived brain organoids were used to investigate the ability of SARS-CoV-2 to infect brain cells. The susceptibility to infection was low for neurons and astrocytes, but high for choroid plexus epithelial cells. Mapping the Human Heart – Investigators used transcriptomic data to characterize six anatomical adult heart regions, creating the most extensive cell atlas of the human heart to date. A Contributor to Fanconi Anemia – Scientists found that high levels of MYC expression promote proliferation and DNA damage in hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells in individuals with Fanconi anemia. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Tom Cheung Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Ludovic Vallier is a Professor of Regenerative Medicine at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute and Director of the NIHR Cambridge Biomedical Centre hiPSC core facility. His lab studies the basic mechanisms controlling the differentiation of pluripotent cells into endoderm progenitors from which the pancreas, lung, gut and liver originate. Featured Products and Resources: Technical Resource: Pluripotent Stem Cell Quality Control mTeSR™ Plus The Stem Cell Science Round Up iPSC-Derived MSC Trial for Graft-versus-Host Disease – A phase 1, open-label clinical trial showed that iPSC-derived mesenchymal stromal cells were well tolerated in patients with steroid-resistant acute graft-versus-host disease. Optimizing Drugs using Patient Cells – Scientists used hiPSC-cardiomyocytes from patients with a cardiac rhythm disorder to chemically refine a drug used to treat the disease. Intestinal Organoids Mimic Human Gut – A new and improved method has been developed to generate physiologically relevant organoids by using a scaffold to guide the self-organization of intestinal stem cells into functional epithelium. Making Induced Trophoblast Stem Cells – Researchers identified induced trophoblast cells during the reprogramming of human somatic cells. They could be cultivated, expanded, and potentially used to make placenta cells. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Ludovic Vallier Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Valerie Horsley is an Associate Professor of Molecular, Cellular, and Developmental Biology, and Associate Professor of Dermatology at Yale University. Her lab studies how adult stem cells within epithelial tissues maintain tissue homeostasis, wound healing and can contribute to cancer formation. Featured Products and Resources: Webinar: Building Brain Organoids and Assembloids to Study Human Development and Disease Dermal Cell News The Stem Cell Science Round Up Treating Obesity and Diabetes with CRISPR-Engineered Fat Cells – White adipocytes were engineered to resemble heat-generating brown fat cells. Transplantation prevented diet-induced obesity and improved glucose homeostasis in mice. A Map of Embryonic Mouse Foregut Development – Scientists have traced the signaling network of endoderm-mesoderm interactions that orchestrate mouse foregut organogenesis. Mechanisms of Trachea Formation – Scientists found that bidirectional Wnt signaling between endoderm and mesoderm promotes trachea development. Scarless Wound Healing – An FDA-approved cream used to treat skin cancers and warts promoted scarless tissue regeneration in wounded mice. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Valerie Horsley Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Henner Farin is a Young Investigator in the German Cancer Consortium, and a Junior Research Group Leader at the Georg-Speyer-Haus Institute for Tumor Biology and Experimental Therapy. His group uses organoids to study cell signaling in intestinal stem cells and colorectal cancer. Featured Products and Resources: CRISPR-Cas9 Genome Editing of Human Intestinal Organoids Try STEMCELL Technologies’ IntestiCult™ Media The Stem Cell Science Round Up Immune Evading Organoids to Treat Type 1 Diabetes – Human islet-like organoids have been created that are glucose responsive, avoid immune detection, and restore glucose homeostasis in diabetic mice. Regenerating Cartilage in the Joints – By causing slight injury to the joint tissue, scientists were able to stimulate regeneration and growth of local skeletal stem cells in healthy and osteoarthritic mice. iPSC Model to Study Congenital Heart Disease – A human iPSC model of hypoplastic left heart syndrome was generated to investigate the abnormalities that disrupt healthy heart formation, and identify a therapeutic target. Modulating Wnt to Support Organoid Growth – Researchers have designed next-generation surrogate Wnts that support long-term expansion of multiple types of organoids. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Henner Farin Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe