Provided herein are methods and compositions relating, in part, to the generation of human progenitor cells committed to the lung lineage and uses of such cells for treatment of lung diseases/disorders or injury to the lung. Whether an adult stem cell can be isolated from human adult lung remains controversial in the art and at present, methods for isolating and using adult lung stem cells from humans lack reproducibility. Thus, the methods and compositions described herein are advantageous over the present state of knowledge in the art and permit the generation of human lung progenitor cells for treatment, tissue engineering, and screening assays.

The present invention relates to a culture media system that useful for the isolation and epigenetically stable propagation of normal stem cells in culture which are derived from columnar epithelial tissues and cancer stem cells from epithelial cancers. In certain embodiments, the culture system is a feeder-free system.

Provided herein are methods and compositions relating, in part, to the generation of human progenitor cells committed to the lung lineage and uses of such cells for treatment of lung diseases/disorders or injury to the lung. Whether an adult stem cell can be isolated from human adult lung remains controversial in the art and at present, methods for isolating and using adult lung stem cells from humans lack reproducibility. Thus, the methods and compositions described herein are advantageous over the present state of knowledge in the art and permit the generation of human lung progenitor cells for treatment, tissue engineering, and screening assays.

This method for producing a cell cluster group comprises: a step for putting, into a well, a cell suspension obtained by suspending dispersed cells in a medium, using a cell incubator which includes the well and two or more recesses formed in the bottom of the well and in which the area of an opening of each recess in plan view is at most 1 mm.sup.2; a step for centrifuging the cell incubator; and a step for culturing the dispersed cells in the recesses.

The invention relates to a scaffold for steering cells into a predetermined direction of cell functionality, preferably a cell differentiation scaffold for steering cells into a predetermined direction of cell differentiation. The scaffold comprises a polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS)-, or rubber-, or silicone-based polymeric surface, and one or more cell functionality-inducing stimuli, preferably one or more cell differentiation-inducing stimuli, coupled to the polymeric surface.

The methods of the present invention include noninvasive methods for the isolation of antibody-producing cells from the gut and the use of the cells so-isolated to generate antibodies responsive to biomarkers for a number of health conditions. The responsive antibodies are chimeric secretory antibodies comprising IgA and IgG moieties that may be useful in the diagnosis and treatment of various health conditions after challenged with biomarkers thereof. In a preferred embodiment, stool samples may be obtained from patients suffering from HIV infection and cells may be isolated from the samples according to the methods described herein and reacted with antibodies responsive to HIV biomarkers. The diagnostic methods described herein allow for room temperature sample isolation for up to five days prior to diagnosis and are useful in detecting latent HIV that cannot be detected in blood samples. It is another object of the invention to generate therapeutic antibodies.

Described are cell culture solutions and systems for epithelial stem cell and organoid cultures, formation of epithelial constructs and uses of the same in transplantation.

The invention relates to the fields of biochemistry, pharmacy and oncology. The invention particularly relates to the use of novel stem cell markers for the isolation of stem cells. The invention further relates to the obtained stem cells and their use in for example research or treatment, for example, for the preparation of a medicament for the treatment of damaged or diseased tissue.

In one of the embodiments, the invention provides a method for obtaining (or isolating) stem cells comprising optionally preparing a cell suspension from a tissue or organ sample, contacting said cell suspension with an Lgr 6 or 5 binding compound, identify the cells bound to said binding compound, and optionally isolating the stem cells from said binding compound.

The invention further relates to means suitable for cancer treatment and even more specific for the treatment of cancer by eradicating cancer stem cells.

A method for producing enteric neural precursors, comprising the steps of: (1) providing enteric neural precursors; and (2) culturing the enteric neural precursors in a medium comprising an ERBB3 agonist and/or an ERBB4 agonist is provided as a technique for allowing enteric neural precursors to proliferate by culture while maintaining their differentiation capacity into enteric nerve cells and glial cells.

The present invention provides a bionic organ device comprises a porous thermo-responsive layer, a cell culturing layer, a flow channel and a controlling module. The thermo-responsive layer is formed by weaving a fiber made of/from a plurality of thermo-responsive polymers and has a first surface and a second surface opposite to the first surface. The cell culturing layer is formed on the first surface of the thermo-responsive layer. The flow channel has an accommodating space for accommodating the thermo-responsive layer, wherein the flow channel is utilized to allow a flow passing through the second surface inside the flow channel. The controlling module is utilized to allow the flows having different flow temperatures passing through the second surface in the flow channel so as to control a temperature variation of the thermo-responsive layer around critical temperature whereby an expansion and contrast motion of the thermo-responsive layer can be generated.