Compositions and methods are provided for biologically relevant in vitro screening of neural function, including determination of the effects of an agent on neural cells. The compositions of the invention useful in such screening methods include a neural co-culture system comprising human pluripotent stem cell (PSC)-derived neurons and human glial cells, which may be derived by culture methods allowing for rapid and robust development of highly mature neuronal activity, particularly spontaneous synchronous network bursts.

The present invention provides methods for isolating and cryopreserving tumor infiltrating lymphocytes (TILs) and producing therapeutic populations of TILs, including methods via use of a kit and a semi-automatic device for aseptic disaggregation, enrichment, and cryopreservation of a resected tumor prior to expansion of the TIL population. The present invention also provides methods for expansion, and/or stabilization of TILs, for instance UTILs, compositions involving the same and methods of treatment involving the same.

The present invention relates to a composition for inducing differentiation into insulin-producing cells, and a method for inducing differentiation into insulin-producing cells. By using a differentiation inducing composition according to an exemplary embodiment or a differentiation inducing method according to an exemplary embodiment, insulin-producing cells can be prepared in a short period by effectively inducing the differentiation of various types of stem cells into insulin-producing cells, and can be mass-produced in a relatively simple manner, and thus a pharmaceutical composition for preventing or treating diabetes mellitus, comprising insulin-producing cells and/or insulin produced thereby, can be provided.

The present invention aims to provide a method for preparing an RPE cell, and an RPE cell prepared by the method, and a reagent for producing an RPE cell which is suitable for the method. The method of the present invention includes the following step: a step of introducing, as exogeneous factors, MITF (Microphthalmia-Associated Transcription Factor) gene or an expression product thereof, OTX2 (Orthodenticle homeobox 2) gene or an expression product thereof, LIN28 gene or an expression product thereof, and L-MYC gene or an expression product thereof into a mammalian somatic cell.

Provided herein are compositions and methods to make and use engineered cells, for the purpose of increasing the cell density of a culture comprising metazoan cells and for the production of a cultured edible product.

The present invention relates to the field of medicine, specifically the field of treatment of cancer. More specifically, the invention relates to a method for the ex vivo production of a population of highly functional NK cells from CD34-positive cells, to a population of highly functional NK cells obtained and to the use of such population of highly functional NK cells for adoptive cell therapy.

The present specification provides a method of producing induced functional astrocytes (iAs) from human pluripotent stem cells substantially more rapidly than previously achieved. These iAs express biomarkers and have functional characteristics typical of natural astrocytes. The iAs are useful in the exploration of astrocyte biology, pathophysiology, and in models of neurologic diseases and disorders.

The electrical pacemakers currently being used for the therapeutic approaches for treatment of “sick sinus syndrome” are not hormonally regulatable and entail risks through infections or premature battery discharge. These problems could be overcome by means of “biological cardiac pacemakers” obtained from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). It has been shown that the controlled differentiation of stem cells with TBX, inductors of sinoatrial node cells, and an additional Myh6 promoter-specific antibiotic selection can give cardiomyocyte aggregates consisting to an extent of more than 80% of physiologically functional pacemaker cells. These induced sinoatrial bodies (“iSABs”) for the first time exhibited very high beat frequencies (300-400 bpm), similar to those in a murine heart, and were able to stably rhythmically stimulate heart muscle cells ex vivo. In the iSAB transcriptome decoded by means of RNA-seq, it was possible to assign almost all the genes to the ontologies of heart function/heart development and the structures of contractile cells. Overall, this is the first example of a high-purity functional sinoatrial tissue derived from stem cells, which means that a crucial step for future cell therapy and the testing of medicaments in vitro is being implemented.

The following are disclosed: a method for producing a T cell progenitor, including step (1) of culturing CD34.sup.+ cell in a medium containing an aryl hydrocarbon receptor antagonist, a medium for T cell progenitor differentiation containing an aryl hydrocarbon receptor antagonist, and a T cell progenitor inducer containing an aryl hydrocarbon receptor antagonist.

This disclosure relates to methods for expanding inner ear supporting cells (e.g., Lgr5+ inner ear supporting cells) and differentiating inner ear supporting cells (e.g., Lgr5+ inner ear supporting cells) to inner ear hair cells (e.g., atonal homolog 1 (Atoh1)+ inner ear hair cells) and the use of the inner hear supporting cells and hair cells, e.g., for identifying candidate therapeutic compounds for the treatment of hearing loss and balance loss. Additionally, the methods described herein can be used in the treatment of a subject having hearing loss and balance loss that would benefit from increased proliferation and differentiation of inner ear supporting cells (e.g., Lgr5+ inner ear supporting cells).