The present invention relates to: a composition for promoting the proliferation of pluripotent stem cells, containing, as an active ingredient, cP1P or a pharmaceutically acceptable salt thereof; and a composition added to a stem cell culture liquid. When culturing stem cells by using a composition for promoting the proliferation of stem cells and a composition added to a stem cell culture medium, according to the present invention, sternness can be strengthened, growth can be promoted, and apoptosis can be inhibited.

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.

The purpose of the present invention is to provide a novel medical application of pluripotent stem cells (muse cells) in regeneration medicine. The present invention provides a cell preparation and a pharmaceutical composition which are for amelioration and treatment of brain disorders resulting from fetal growth retardation, such as abnormal motor quality or abnormal neurological development, and which contain SSEA-3 positive pluripotent stem cells isolated from a mesenchymal tissue from a live body or cultured mesenchymal cells. It is assumed that this cell preparation is based on a mechanism where muse cells that are administered to objects having the disorders are engrafted on an impaired brain tissue, thereby ameliorating or treating the disorders.

Provided is a cell culture method comprising the step of culturing cells using a medium containing a laminin fragment having integrin binding activity, the method not comprising the step of coating a culture vessel with a laminin or a laminin fragment before seeding the cells in the culture vessel. The cell culture method of the present invention uses a smaller amount of a laminin fragment and still achieves a comparable culture efficiency as compared with the conventional cell culture method that uses a culture vessel precoated with a laminin or a laminin fragment.

Compositions useful for propagation of pluripotent stem cells are provided. The compositions comprise a polysaccharide hydrogel linked to a peptide fragment of the extracellular domain of epithelial cadherin. Methods of making the composition, and culturing pluripotent stem cells also are provided.

The present invention relates to a method of expanding pluripotent stem cells (PSC) in suspension culture in a bioreactor, the method comprising (i) adding an inhibitor of ROCK (ROCKi) to pluripotent stem cells being cultivated in suspension in the bioreactor; (ii) adding a cell dissociation agent, thereby dissociating aggregates of the pluripotent stem cells; (iii) diluting the cell dissociation agent added in step (ii) by adding an excess volume of culture medium sufficient to decrease the concentration of the cell dissociation agent to a concentration at which cell aggregates can form again; and (iv) culturing of the mixture obtained in step (iii) under suitable conditions that allow the expansion of the PSCs.

The present invention provides a scaffold for culturing retinal tissue comprising an amount of gelatin, an amount of chondroitin sulfate, an amount of hyaluronic acid, wherein the amount of gelatin, chondroitin sulfate, and hyaluronic acid are prepared into a three-dimensional monolith, wherein the monolith is sectioned into planar sheets, and an amount of laminin-521.

Disclosed herein are methods and compositions for generating pacemaker cells from non-pacemaker cardiomyocytes. For example, the method includes the step of culturing the non-pacemaker cardiomyocytes with silk fibroin so that the silk fibroin induces the transformation of at least a portion thereof into pacemaker cells.

An object is to provide a composition and a method for eliminating undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells remaining in a cell group induced to differentiate from pluripotent stem cells. It has been found that while dihydroorotate dehydrogenase inhibitors exhibit cytotoxic activity against pluripotent stem cells, they do not exhibit significant cytotoxic activity against differentiated cells such as somatic stem cells.

The present disclosure provides methods and compositions for inducing, maintaining and/or passaging naïve pluripotent stem cell. In some embodiments, the methods are performed in the absence of MEK inhibition which has been shown to result in genomic instability of naïve pluripotent stem cells.