The present invention relates to automated methods for isolating fetal cells from a sample, such as a blood sample, derived from a pregnant woman. The isolated fetal cells can be used for identifying genetic abnormalities in the fetal DNA.

Well-defined, xeno-free culture media which comprise a TGF-beta isoform or the chimera formed between IL6 and the soluble IL6 receptor (IL6RIL6), which are capable of maintaining stem cells, and particularly, human embryonic stem cells, in an undifferentiated state are provided. Also provided are cell cultures comprising the culture media and the stem cells and methods of expanding and deriving embryonic stem cells in such well-defined, xeno-free culture media. In addition, the present invention provides methods of differentiating ESCs or EBs formed therefrom for the generation of lineage specific cells.

We describe a cell culture medium comprising a basal medium supplemented with a CDK1/2/9 inhibitor and a Bcr-Abl/Src kinase inhibitor. The CDK1/2/9 inhibitor may comprise AZD5438 and the Bcr-Abl/Src kinase inhibitor may comprise Dasatinib. The cell culture medium may be capable of maintaining or increasing pluripotency in a cell cultured in the cell culture medium in the absence of co-culture such as feeder cells.

We describe the use of such a medium for feeder-free culture of a naïve pluripotent stem cell as well as re-programming of a primed pluripotent stem cell into a naïve pluripotent stem cell.

Provided herein are blastoids and methods for producing the same that are obtained from an extended pluripotent stem (EPS) cell. The herein-disclosed methods provide a unique and highly malleable in vitro system for studying early preimplantation development. Also provided are EPS-blastoids derived from a somatic cell.

This disclosure relates generally to methods for generating small hepatocyte progenitor cells (SHPCs) and hematopoietic progenitor cells (HPCs) from human embryonic stem cells, and hematopoietic progenitor cells from primary human endothelial cells and cell lines populations of small hepatocyte progenitor cells and hematopoietic progenitor cells, and uses thereof.

The present disclosure provides a recombinant herpesvirus of turkeys (HVT) and a preparation method and use thereof. The present disclosure specifically provides a recombinant HVT, where an exogenous gene is inserted in a spacer region between an HVT005 region and an HVT006 region of an HVT genome; and the exogenous gene is selected from a gene derived from the group consisting of a Newcastle disease virus (NDV), an avian influenza virus (AIV), and an infectious bursal disease virus (IBDV); the spacer region between an HVT005 region and an HVT006 region of an HVT genome is located between 8,867 nt and 9,319 nt of the HVT genome, and has a nucleotide sequence set forth in SEQ ID NO: 1.

The present invention relates to a cell line, use of the cell line and a method for producing infectious viral particles using said cell line.

Described herein are methods of enhancing chromosomal homologous recombination to stimulate a loss of heterozygosity at a gene locus of interest in a living cell. These methods are driven by an enhancer component and a target-specific endonuclease component and proceed through a mechanism whereby: exogenous donor DNA that is homologous to the gene locus of interest is not introduced into the living cell; the desired allele of the gene locus of interest remains uncleaved; and the undesired allele is either uncleaved, cleaved at a single location, or cleaved at multiple locations. These methods have numerous applications, including the repair of risk alleles for disease prevention, the correction of heterozygous mutations in dividing cells, the design of cancer therapeutics, and the design of novel gene-drive strategies.

The present invention provides an endodermal cell production method that can induce differentiation of pluripotent cells into endodermal cells even when the pluripotent cells are dispersed and can achieve improved endodermal cell production efficiency. The endodermal cell production method according to the present invention is a method for producing endodermal cells by inducing differentiation of pluripotent cells into the endodermal cells, including the step of: inducing differentiation of the pluripotent cells into the endodermal cells in the presence of an endodermal cell inducing factor. In the induction step, the cell density of the pluripotent cells at the start of the induction preferably is from 0.5×10.sup.4 to 2×10.sup.4 cells/cm.sup.2.

A method for stably amplifying a pluripotent stem cell comprises the following steps: (a) a cell implantation step: implanting pluripotent stem cells directly into a porous scaffold such that the porous scaffold contains 1×10.sup.4 or more of the pluripotent stem cells; and (b) a cell amplification step: immersing the porous scaffold in a specific culture medium which is xeno-free (XF) and performing amplification culture at an ambient temperature of 35.5-39.5° C. and a CO.sub.2 concentration of 5% to obtain the amplified pluripotent stem cells, wherein the amplified pluripotent stem cells aggregate to present an embryoid body state. The amplification method of the present disclosure can easily obtain an excellent effect of increasing an amplification multiple of the pluripotent stem cells to about 3 times or more.