A medium composition, containing a basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) at not less than 150 ng/mL is useful for culturing cells.

Disclosed herein include methods and compositions for culture medias for in vitro culture of synthetic embryos from mammalian pluripotent stem cells and extra-embryonic stem cells. The methods and compositions described herein can generate synthetic embryos at different developmental stage reaching early organogenesis and beyond. Disclosed herein also include an embryo culturing system and methods of using same.

Compositions for treating an ocular disorder are provided. The composition includes an effective amount of a human trabecular meshwork stem cell (TMSC) secretome, wherein the effective amount is present in an amount to reduce impairment of retinal ganglion cells (RGC). Methods for treating ocular disorders using the disclosed compositions are also provided. The compositions reduce and prevent cell apoptosis, axon loss, vision loss, increased intraocular pressure, and dysregulated aqueous humor outflow of a subject when used in accordance with the methods disclosed herein.

Disclosed herein are insulin resistance reporters for use in quantifying insulin response in biological cells. These biological cells may be stem cell compositions or derivatives thereof comprising the insulin resistance reporter. The stem cell derivatives include but are not limited to insulin responsive cells, tissues, or organoids, such as pancreatic, brain, adipose, muscle, or liver cells, or tissues or organoids thereof. Also disclosed herein are methods of using said insulin resistance reporters and cells with these insulin resistance reporters as models to examine insulin resistance and screening for compounds that are potentially useful for the treatment of diseases or disorders associated with insulin resistance. The cells comprising an insulin resistance reporter may be hepatic cells or liver organoid compositions, which can be used in investigating hepatic insulin resistance, for example, as a result of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease or steatohepatitis.

Materials and methods for treating a patient with a hemoglobinopathy, both ex vivo and in vivo, and materials and methods for creating permanent changes to the genome that can result in at least one deletion, insertion, modulation, or inactivation of a transcriptional control sequence of a BCL11A gene in a cell by genome editing.

The present invention relates to a method, which patterns 3D organoids prepared from human pluripotent stem cells and chops the same so as to culture oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, and induces the differentiation thereof so as to obtain a large quantity of finally differentiated oligodendrocytes. Compared to cells differentiated by a conventional differentiation method, oligodendrocytes obtained in a large quantity have the same or superior reproducibility, stability, and functionality and have remarkably shortened differentiation time, and thus are expected to be very useful for cell therapeutic agents or for screening for therapeutic drugs.

Methods for generating human committed midbrain neural stem cells (NSCs) and midbrain neural progenitor cells (midbrain NPCs) from human pluripotent stem cells are provided using chemically-defined culture media that allow for generation of the midbrain NPCs in as little as six days. The midbrain NPCs can be further differentiated to mature dopaminergic neurons. Culture media, isolated cell populations and kits are also provided.

The present invention relates generally to the field of cell biology of stem cells, more specifically the directed differentiation of pluripotent or multipotent stem cells, including human embryonic stem cells (hESC), somatic stem cells, and induced human pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC) using novel culture conditions. Specifically, methods are provided for obtaining neural tissue, floor plate cells, and placode including induction of neural plate development in hESCs for obtaining midbrain dopamine (DA) neurons, motor neurons, and sensory neurons. Further, neural plate tissue obtained using methods of the present inventions are contemplated for use in co-cultures with other tissues as inducers for shifting differentiation pathways, i.e. patterning.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel approach capable of conveniently producing a large quantity of substantially uniform size cell aggregates. Provided is a method for producing cell aggregates using a cell culture bag, the cell culture bag having a lower face comprising a plurality of recesses, the method comprising the steps of: (1) adding cells and a medium to the cell culture bag, stirring the contents, and culturing the cells while applying a pressure to the cell culture bag; and (2) recovering the formed cell aggregates after the completion of culture.

A method of producing helper T cells, comprising: (i) culturing T cells, which have been induced from pluripotent stem cells and into which a CD4 gene or a gene product thereof has been introduced, in a medium containing IL-2 and IL-15; and (ii) isolating CD40L-highly expressing T cells from cells obtained in step (i).