A method for inducing conversion from non-hepatic stem cells or non-hepatic progenitor cells into hepatic stem cells or hepatic progenitor cells, which comprises introducing any of the following combinations into the non-hepatic stem cells or non-hepatic progenitor cells: (a) a combination of HNF1, HNF6 and FOXA; (b) a combination of HNF1 gene, HNF6 gene and FOXA gene; (c) a combination of HNF1, MYC and FOXA; or (d) a combination of HNF1 gene, MYC gene and FOXA gene.

The present invention relates to agents that induce mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR.sup.mt) in muscle stem cells and prevents or reverse process of muscle stem cell senescence. Further, the invention relates to methods and compositions useful in the prevention and/or treatment of muscle stem senescence.

The invention relates to a method for culturing a subpopulation of circulating epithelial tumour cells from a body fluid of a human or animal suffering from an epithelial tumour, wherein cells contained in the body fluid each containing at least one cell nucleus are separated from the body fluid and cultured over at least 24 hours in suspension, with formation of spheroids.

In some aspects, disclosed are methods and compositions for disc regeneration and/or repair using one or more components from conditioned media from fibroblasts. In certain cases, conditioned media is obtained from fibroblasts stimulated with one or more opioid receptor antagonists and one or more toll-like receptor agonists. Conditioned media from fibroblasts may be provided in an effective amount to an individual in need thereof.

Provided is a method of screening a customized growth factor combination for cell culture, the method including: adding at least one growth factor and cells isolated from a subject to a culture medium; culturing the cells; and measuring cell proliferative activity of the cells. According to the method of screening cell-customized cell culture conditions according to one aspect, it is possible to efficiently select the optimal conditions for cell culture.

The present invention relates to compositions comprising mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) useful for producing pharmaceutical formulation to treat musculoskeletal conditions, including joint degeneration, tendon and ligament laxity or rupture, and muscle conditions.

The present invention relates to the field of regenerative medicine, namely formulating improved compositions for the treatment of musculoskeletal conditions, including joint degeneration, tendon and ligament laxity or rupture, and muscle conditions, having a positive impact on pharmaceutical formulations containing mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs), providing the enhancement of MSCs viability upon cryopreservation, MSCs stability during transportation and manipulation, and MSCs therapeutic efficacy of the final formulations.

In some aspects, disclosed are methods and compositions for disc regeneration and/or repair using one or more components from conditioned media from fibroblasts. In certain cases, conditioned media is obtained from fibroblasts stimulated with one or more opioid receptor antagonists and one or more toll-like receptor agonists. Conditioned media from fibroblasts may be provided in an effective amount to an individual in need thereof.

The present invention relates to agents that induce mitochondrial unfolded protein response (UPR mt) in muscle stem cells and prevents or reverse process of muscle stem cell senescence. Further, the invention relates to methods and compositions useful in the prevention and/or treatment of muscle stem senescence.

The present invention provides methods or kits with inflammatory cytokines to pretreat 1-ISCs to augment their immune modulatory effect, in prevention and treatment of various diseases such as multiple sclerosis, arthritis, lupus, sepsis, hepatitis, cirrhosis, Parkinson's disease, chronic infections, and GvHD. The present invention relates to novel methods for enhancing the immunosuppressive or the immune stimulatory activities of mesenchymal stem cells (JvfSCs).

Methods, kits and compositions for generating cancer stem cells are provided.