The Stem Cell Podcast

Guest: Dr. Sergiu Pașca is an Associate Professor of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences at Stanford University, and the Bonnie Uytengsu and Family Director of the Stanford Brain Organogenesis Program. His team has developed methods for generating human brain organoids, and uses them to study the programs underlying brain development, assembly and dysfunction. To learn more about his research, register for his upcoming webinar, “Building Brain Organoids and Assembloids to Study Human Development and Disease” with STEMCELL Technologies. Featured Products and Resources: STEMCELL Technologies Organoid Hub Neurological Disease Modeling Resources The Stem Cell Science Round Up Autophagy Regulates Stemness – Researchers have found that autophagy regulates the balance between self-renewal and differentiation of embryonic stem cells. Injury Induces Astrocyte Neurogenesis – When Notch signaling is blocked, astrocytes transition to a neural stem cell-like state after injury. Expanding the Skin by Stretching – Investigators have shown that stretching leads to skin expansion by the self-renewal of epidermal stem cells. Functional Neural Stem Cell Grafts after Spinal Cord Injury – Scientists successfully implanted neural stem/progenitor cell grafts directly into spinal cord injuries in mice. The grafts integrated with and mimicked the animal’s existing neural network. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Sergiu Pașca Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Intro: In June 2020, we attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) virtual annual meeting! Here is the second of three special episodes from the meeting featuring Dr. Martin Pera, Principal Investigator at the Jackson Laboratories, who presented on the unique properties of a subset of human pluripotent stem cells with a high capacity for self-renewal. Guest: Dr. Martin Pera is a Principal Investigator at the Jackson Laboratories and Editor-in-Chief of the ISSCR’s journal Stem Cell Reports. His lab studies the regulation of self-renewal and pluripotency, heterogeneity in pluripotent stem cell populations, and neural specification of pluripotent stem cells. We discuss his work presented at ISSCR 2020 on the unique properties of a subset of human pluripotent stem cells with high capacity for self-renewal. Featured Products and Resources: Stem Cell Podcast ISSCR 2020 Video Series mTeSR™ Plus from STEMCELL Technologies Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Martin Pera Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Dominique Bonnet is the Group Leader of the Hematopoietic Stem Cell Laboratory at the Francis Crick Institute in London, UK. Her lab is interested in the extrinsic mechanisms that regulate hematopoietic stem cells, and how they can intervene in order to eradicate the leukemic stem cell. Featured Products and Resources: Science News by STEMCELL Technologies MesenCult™-ACF-Plus medium The Stem Cell Science Round Up Tiny CRISPR System Discovered – A very compact CRISPR-Cas system has been identified in huge bacteriophages, which provides an addition to the genome editing toolbox. The Effects of Heart Attacks on Insulin Resistance – Scientists have found that heart attacks can affect glucose tolerance by acting on hematopoietic progenitor-derived macrophages in distal adipose tissue. The Hair-Raising Reason for Goosebumps – Investigators have found that certain cell types form a niche to regulate hair follicular stem cells and promote goosebumps. Combination Therapy to Treat Head and Neck Cancer – Combining a BMI1 inhibitor with approved PD1 blockade treatment successfully eliminated cancer stem cells in head and neck squamous cell carcinoma. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Dominique Bonnet Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Intro: In June 2020, we attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) virtual annual meeting! Here is the second of three special episodes from the meeting featuring Dr. Kristy Red-Horse, Associate Professor of Biology at Stanford University, who presented on using developmental biology to inform cardiac tissue regeneration. Guest: Dr. Kristy Red-Horse is an Associate Professor of Biology at Stanford University. The Red-Horse lab uses cardiovascular development as a model to study the signals that instruct cell fate and guide morphogenesis during organ formation in the mammalian embryo. We discuss her work presented at ISSCR 2020 on coronary vessel development and artery differentiation, as well as the use of single cell analysis and the future of cell therapy. Featured Products and Resources: Stem Cell Podcast ISSCR 2020 Video Series Webinar: Modeling Arrhythmias Using hPSC-Derived Cardiomyocytes and Tracking Their Excitability Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Kristy Red-Horse Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Valentina Greco is the Carolyn Slayman Professor of Genetics at Yale University. Her lab has developed novel live imaging approaches to track and manipulate stem cells in live animals, allowing them to study the complex orchestration of tissue regeneration using the skin as a model system. She is also a fierce advocate for inclusivity in the scientific community. Featured Products and Resources: Dermal Cell News STEMdiff™ Cardiomyocyte Media and Supplements The Stem Cell Science Round Up Reducing Cell-to-Cell Contact Helps Heart Cell Proliferation – Researchers were able to induce massive expansion of hiPSC-derived cardiomyocytes by activating Wnt and reducing cell-cell contact. Growing Liver Vasculature from Stem Cells – Scientists have developed a strategy to generate liver sinusoidal endothelial cells from human PSCs by first optimizing arteriovenous specification. A Role For Sex Hormones in Stem Cell Control – A steroid hormone produced by the ovaries in Drosophila has been shown to stimulate intestinal stem cell growth, which may help with reproduction but cause gut dysfunction. Beneficial Bioartificial Livers – Investigators have developed a bioartificial liver system that expands liver progenitor-like cells from human primary hepatocytes. The treatment was able to relieve acute liver failure in pigs. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Valentina Greco Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Intro: In June 2020, we attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) virtual annual meeting! Here is the first of three special episodes from the meeting featuring Dr. Madeline Lancaster, Group Leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK, who presented on new directions for human brain organoids. Guest: Dr. Madeline Lancaster is a Group Leader at the Medical Research Council Laboratory of Molecular Biology in Cambridge, UK. The Lancaster lab has created cerebral organoids as a model system to better understand human brain evolution, development, and neurodevelopmental disorders. We discuss her work presented at ISSCR 2020, including her team’s latest publication in Science presenting a human central nervous system barrier-forming organoid model that produces cerebrospinal fluid. Featured Products and Resources: Stem Cell Podcast ISSCR 2020 Video Series Wiley E-Book: Organoid Research Techniques Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Madeline Lancaster Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Benoit Bruneau is the Director of the Gladstone Institute of Cardiovascular Disease. His lab uses mouse models and human iPSCs to investigate the transcription factor networks that regulate sets of genes critical for heart development. Featured Products and Resources: Muscle Cell News STEMdiff™ Cardiomyocyte Media and Supplements The Stem Cell Science Round Up New Bone Grafts from Stem Cells – Researchers have identified a highly osteogenic MSC line derived from iPSCs that generates large amounts of osteogenic matrix, which acts as a scaffold during bone regeneration. Melanoma Cells Transdifferentiate into Endothelial Cells – Melanoma cells have been found that reside in a quiescent state in intravascular niches of metastatic organs, and acquire endothelial features. Modeling Neurodegeneration in Glaucoma – Scientists have developed a model to study the neurodegeneration that occurs with glaucoma by using retinal ganglion cells derived from hPSCs that were engineered with a glaucoma-causing mutation. Targeting Senescence-Related Diseases with CAR T – Investigators designed CAR T cells  that effectively eliminated senescent cells, demonstrating the potential of CAR T therapy for senescence-associated diseases. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Benoit Bruneau Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Karl Koehler is an Assistant Professor of Otolaryngology at Harvard Medical School. His lab develops organoid systems to study human sensory organ development and function, and to model congenital diseases and develop regenerative medicine therapies for the inner ear and various craniofacial tissues. Featured Products and Resources: Dermal Cell News Wiley eBook: Organoid Research Techniques The Stem Cell Science Round Up Variable Outcomes in Neural Differentiation – Investigators have found that the variability in outcomes during in vitro differentiation of human PSCs to neural lineage cells is due to differences in a developmental signaling pathway. Human Embryo-Like Model Created from Human Stem Cells – A new model has been developed to study gastrulation in early development using human ESC-derived gastruloids. Boosting Natural Killer Cell Activity with iPSCs – Using iPSCs and deleting a key gene, scientists have created natural killer cells with an enhanced ability to inhibit leukemic cells, both in vivo and in vitro. Brain Organoids that Predict Drug Permeability – Researchers have generated human central nervous system organoids with a barrier that is selective to small molecules, and that secrete cerebrospinal fluid. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Karl Koehler Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Freda Miller is a Senior Scientist at the Hospital for Sick Children and Professor at the University of Toronto. Her research focuses on the cellular mechanisms that regulate development of the mammalian nervous system, with a particular interest in stem cells and trophic factors. Featured Products and Resources: Neural Disease Modeling Hub STEMdiff™ Neural Crest Differentiation Kit The Stem Cell Science Round Up First Results from Major Studies of Human Genetic Variation – A massive genome-sequencing and analysis effort has produced the most comprehensive sets of data and tools for understanding human genetic variation so far. Exploring Stem Cell Differentiation – Researchers have developed a new highly multiplexed single-cell RNA sequencing method to understand the signaling pathways that drive embryonic stem cell differentiation. Tri-Cellular Cardiac Microtissue Model – By combining three types of cardiac cells, scientists have developed a human iPSC-derived microtissue platform for modeling multicellular cardiac diseases, and revealed non-cardiomyocyte contributions to heart disease. Modeling the Early Embryonic Brain – Neural tube development has been modeled by exposing embryonic stem cells to WNT signaling gradients that mimic developmental patterning. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Freda Miller Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe

Guest: Dr. Hans Clevers is a Group Leader at the Hubrecht Institute for Developmental Biology and Stem Cell Research. Dr. Clevers pioneered research into the Wnt signaling cascade, Lgr5 as a marker of tissue stem cells, and organoid technology. His group studies the molecular mechanisms of tissue development and cancer of various organs using organoids made from adult Lgr5 stem cells. Featured Products and Resources: STEMCELL Technologies Organoid Information Hub Wiley E-Book: Organoid Research Techniques: Evolution and Applications The Stem Cell Science Round Up Roadmap of Human Skeletal Muscle Development – An atlas has been created that tracks the development of human skeletal muscle from human muscle tissue and from pluripotent stem cell-derived myogenic cultures. Gatekeeper of Hair-Growing Stem Cells – Researchers have identified two transcription factors responsible for maintaining the identity of hair follicle stem cells. Removing either factor resulted in degenerated hair follicles and scar tissue similar to skin in humans with irreversible alopecia. Biosynthetic Capacity of Colon Cancer Cells – Protein synthesis has been shown to be a key property for the regenerative potential of colon cancer cells. COVID Infection of Bat Intestinal Organoids – Scientists have generated the first bat small intestinal organoids, and showed that they were susceptible to SARS-CoV-2 infection. Atlas of Human Enteroendocrine Cells – Dr. Hans Clevers summarizes his team’s latest paper describing an organoid-based platform for functional studies of human hormone-producing enteroendocrine cells. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Hans Clevers Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe