The vast differentiation potential of human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells, including their potential to cascade through all of the somatic cell lineages and to display the complete transcriptional regulatory network of human biology, has generated interest in deriving scalable, purified, and identified cell types and methods of discovering the precise structure of the human regulatory network. However, the innate capacity of pluripotent cells to display all these lineages is not necessarily reflected during their culture in vitro. The clonal isolation and propagation of progenitors greatly facilitates the generation of highly purified and identified formulations for research and therapeutic purposes. Nevertheless, other cell types have yet to be isolated and propagated from normal cells and methods of isolating said novel cell types as well as methods for introducing perturbations into the transcriptional regulatory network in order to construct a computer model of the entire human transcriptional regulatory network would greatly benefit basic research as well as manufacturing technology for cell-based therapies.

Disclosed is a cell which enables the reproduction of a cartilage tissue and has a proliferative ability. Also disclosed is a technique for providing a cell supply source which can be used in a definitive treatment of osteochondrosis deformans. A chondrocyte-like cell which has the same properties as those of a chondrocyte and can proliferate can be produced by selecting a combination of an Myc family gene and/or a Klf family gene and a SOX9 gene and introducing the combination into a somatic cell. The chondrocyte-like cell can be used for a medical purpose of cartilage regeneration.

The present invention provides an isolated population of chondrocyte precursor cells wherein 1% or less of the cells express Oct4, Nanog and/or TRA-1-60, 7% or less of the cells express no collagen II, collagen X, CD105 or Stro-1 and 85% or more of the cells express CBFA1, methods for preparing such cells and uses of chondrocyte cells derived from said precursor cells.

The invention is in the field of therapeutic treatment of tumors. The inventors have found that microvesicles derived from adult stem cells exert a remarkable anti-tumor effect when administered to a patient affected by a tumor disease. Preferred microvesicles are derived from a bone marrow-mesenchymal stem cell, a glomerular mesenchymal stem cell or a non-oval liver stem cell.

The invention relates in aspects to hybrid RNAs lacking a poly-A tail and nucleic acid vectors for expressing the RNA. The hybrid RNAs in some instances have a 3′ terminal stabilizing triple helical structure. Related methods for expressing said RNAs in vivo and in vitro are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to methods for expanding a stem cell population. More particularly, the invention relates, inter alia, to methods and compositions for expanding a stem cell population, particularly a hematopoietic stem cell population.

Vitronectin-derived cell culture substrates and methods of using the same for culturing pluripotent stem cells are presented. Also provided herein are defined culture systems for maintaining human pluripotent stem cells in a substantially undifferentiated state, where the defined culture system comprises human pluripotent stem cells, a defined culture medium, and at least one polypeptide selected from the group consisting of residues 43 to 378 of SEQ ID NO:1 and residues 45 to 378 of SEQ ID NO:1, and where the defined culture medium comprises insulin, selenium, transferrin, L-ascorbic acid, FGF2, DMEM/F12, NaHCO.sub.3, and one of TGFβ and NODAL.

Disclosed are methods of inducing differentiation of stem into myogenic cells without gene manipulation and for inducing proliferation of satellite cells. The cells can be used as a source of cells for transplantation in a subject in need thereof. Also disclosed is a screening assay for screening test compounds using blastomere cultures.

The present invention discloses cryopreserved recombinant cells for screening drug candidates that transiently overexpress one or more drug transporter proteins and/or drug metabolizing enzymes. Advantageously, such cells provide a cost-efficient consumable product that streamlines the process of screening whether drug candidates are substrates or inhibitors of drug transporter proteins and/or drug metabolizing enzymes.

A method of making an organ or tissue comprises: (a) providing a first dispenser containing a structural support polymer and a second dispenser containing a live cell-containing composition; (b) depositing a layer on said support from said first and second dispenser, said layer comprising a structural support polymer and said cell-containing composition; and then (c) iteratively repeating said depositing step a plurality of times to form a plurality of layers one on another, with separate and discrete regions in each of said layers comprising one or the other of said support polymer or said cell-containing composition, to thereby produce provide a composite three dimensional structure containing both structural support regions and cell-containing regions. Apparatus for carrying out the method and composite products produced by the method are also described.