Methods for treating radiation or chemical injury are described that comprise administering to a subject a therapeutically effective amount of adherent stromal cells. Methods of preparing adherent stromal cells and pharmaceutical compositions comprising the cells are also described.

The high-potential pluripotent stem cells of the present invention not only have characteristics of conventional Muse cells, namely, are capable of differentiating into any embryonic tissue serving as all cells constituting the body, but also are capable of differentiating into any extraembryonic tissue cells such as placenta and/or germline cells, namely, have differentiation capacities close to totipotency. Thus, the high-potential pluripotent stem cells not only allow for conventional regenerative therapies of various diseases which cause any damage in constitution of the body, but also are capable of differentiating into any extraembryonic tissue cells such as placenta, and thus can allow any damaged sites in such any extraembryonic tissue to be re-constituted, resulting in improvement or restoring of the function of such any damaged sites, and can be applied to a new field of regenerative therapy, for example, can be used in reproductive therapies such as fertility therapy.

Aspects of the disclosure relate to compositions comprising populations of isolated amniotic cells. In some embodiments, the populations of cells are enriched for human amniotic epithelial cells (hAECs). In some embodiments, the disclosure provides methods of administering the compositions to a subject, for example a subject having certain diseases or disorders such as liver disease, phenylketonuria (PKU), a vocal cord injury or a disease associated with a Complement Factor H deficiency.

An in vitro population of human brain endothelial cells (hBECs) expressing claudin-5, occludin, ZO-1 and GLUT-1 and expressing one or more of FZD7, WNT7A, WNT7B, APCDD1, STRA6 and ZO-3 is provided. A blood brain barrier (BBB) comprising the hBECs and use of the BBB for analyzing permeability characteristics of a test agent are provided.

A pharmaceutical composition for the prevention or treatment of a pulmonary disorder is provided. The composition contains mesenchymal stem cells showing improved proliferation and differentiation capacity which are characterized by the expression or non-expression of one or more particular cell markers. Also, provided is a method for obtaining mesenchymal stem cells showing improved proliferation and differentiation capacity based on the expression or non-expression of such cell markers. The mesenchymal stem cells having improved proliferation and differentiation capacity can be easily obtained from mesenchymal stem cells of various origins based on the expression or non-expression of CD26, CD49f, CD146 and EGFR. The mesenchymal stem cells thus obtained can be effectively used for the prevention or treatment of a pulmonary disorder such as, for example, pulmonary emphysema.

A method for the treatment of vernal keratoconjunctivitis in a subject by administering to said subject an effective amount of a cell-based composition containing a suspension of mesenchymal stem cells in crystalloid with a cellular concentration from 0.01 million to 3.0 million cells/ml.

A method for microencapsulation includes isolating myofibroblasts from Wharton's jelly of a human umbilical cord. The myofibroblasts are microencapsulated using ultra-purified sodium alginate, wherein the myofibroblasts encapsulated in the sodium alginate form a three-dimensional spherical structure.

Certain embodiments provide a method of producing a population of induced multipotent placental cells, the method comprising culturing a population of pluripotent stem cells in the presence of an induction media comprising a retinoid, and optionally a Wnt signaling agonist. Certain embodiments also provide cells, compositions, kits and methods of use thereof.

A vented wound dressing barrier includes one or more membrane layers with a plurality of vents. The vents are cut along a perimeter of the vents through the one or more membrane layers. Each vent having a connection portion uncut relative to the one or more membrane layers thereby forming a hinge configured to allow the vents to open for drainage when exposed to fluid underlying the vented wound dressing barrier. The plurality of vents is each cut along the perimeter without removal of any of the membrane layer. The one or more membrane layers with the plurality of vents has a surface for covering a wound, the surface area in the absence of a fluid pressing on the vents having no openings or voids which reduce the surface area of a vented wound dressing barrier area covering a wound.

The present disclosure provides compositions and methods employing stem cell-derived amnion tissue. In some embodiments, compositions (e.g., scaffolds and devices) and methods of generating amnion-like tissues from hPSCs are provided. In some embodiments, uses of such cells for research, compound screening and analysis, and therapeutics are provided.