The present disclosure provides methods and kits for the differentiation of stem cells into relevant liver cell lineages, as well as methods of using the relevant liver cell lineages in screening for a cellular response, a phenotype and in the treatment of a condition. In one embodiment, stem cells are first differentiated into cells of the definitive endoderm lineage, which are differentiated into posterior foregut (PFG) lineage cells by one or more of retinoic acid activators and/or one or more inhibitors of transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ). An additional embodiment provides a method for the differentiation of posterior foregut lineage cells into liver bud progenitors (LB) by one or more activators of TGFβ signalling, and/or one or more modulators of Wnt signalling, and/or one or more activators of cyclic AMP/PKA signaling; and a further embodiment provides a method for the differentiation of liver bud progenitors into hepatic progenitors by one or more inhibitors of TGFβ signalling and/or fibroblast growth factor (FGF) inhibitors and/or one or more Notch inhibitors. Another embodiment discloses the differentiation of hepatic progenitors into hepatocyte-like cells or perivenous hepatocyte-like cells by one or more of Notch inhibitors and/or activators of glucocorticoid signalling and/or one or more activators of insulin signalling and/or one or more of ascorbic acid signalling activators and/or additional factors. Methods and kits for maintaining LB in self renewal state, hepatocyte-like cells in perivenous or periportal state, as well as surface markers for LB and mid/hindgut (MHG) cells are also disclosed.

Provided is a method for separating and extracting mesenchymal stem cells from the human umbilical cord. The method uses healthy neonatal umbilical cord tissue; after cleaning and disinfection, mechanically pulverising same, separating the Wharton's jelly, and after treating with erythrocyte lysate, carrying out suspension culture in a serum-free culture medium. Replacing the liquid every 3-5 days; after the plate adherence rate reaches 30-70%, carrying out trypsin digestion, and then collecting the cells by centrifugation for passage amplification, until the rate of confluence of the cells reaches 80-90% confluence, thereby obtaining high purity umbilical cord mesenchymal stem cells.

This invention provides a system for efficiently producing differentiated cells from pluripotent cells, such as human embryonic stem cells. Rather than permitting the cells to form embryoid bodies according to established techniques, differentiation is effected directly in monolayer culture on a suitable solid surface. The cells are either plated directly onto a differentiation-promoting surface, or grown initially on the solid surface in the absence of feeder cells and then exchanged into a medium that assists in the differentiation process. The solid surface and the culture medium can be chosen to direct differentiation down a particular pathway, generating a cell population that is remarkably uniform. The methodology is well adapted to bulk production of committed precursor and terminally differentiated cells for use in drug screening or regenerative medicine.

The present disclosure provides highly efficient, non-invasive, and reversible methods for selectively enriching pluripotent cells (e.g., human pluripotent cells and mouse pluripotent cells) in a cell population using a glutamine-deficient medium. The presently disclosed methods have the advantageous of efficiently enriching pluripotent cells in a heterogenous cell population without altering the biological properties of any individual cells.

Methods for obtaining multipotent Apelin receptor-positive lateral plate mesoderm cells, mesenchymal stem cells, and mesangioblasts under serum-free conditions are disclosed.

The present invention provides: a method for producing mixed cells comprising cardiomyocytes, endothelial cells and mural cells from induced pluripotent stem cells, the method comprising (a) a step of producing cardiomyocytes from induced pluripotent stem cells and (b) a step of culturing the cardiomyocytes in the presence of VEGF; and a therapeutic agent for heart diseases, comprising the mixed cells produced by the method.

Methods, kits, compositions, and systems are provided for culturing pluripotent stem cells to produce populations of cells comprising beta-like cells (e.g., pancreatic lineage, glucose-responsive, and/or insulin-producing). In particular, culture conditions are provided that result in the generation of beta-like cells from a starting culture of human pluripotent stem cells.

Cells derived from postpartum tissue and methods for their isolation and induction to differentiate to cells of a chondrogenic or osteogenic phenotype are provided by the invention. The invention further provides cultures and compositions of the postpartum-derived cells and products related thereto. The postpartum-derived cells of the invention and products related thereto have a plethora of uses, including but not limited to research, diagnostic, and therapeutic applications, for example, in the treatment of bone and cartilage conditions.

A method for producing pluripotent stem cells includes a step of performing suspension culture of pluripotent stem cells under a condition in which an amount, which is calculated by the following Equation (1), of WNT protein contained in a unit of a medium in contact with a unit area of a cell surface of a pluripotent stem cell is maintained at 2.9×10.sup.2 μg/mL.Math.cm.sup.2 or less.

(Amount of WNT protein contained in unit of medium in contact with unit area of cell surface)=(concentration of WNT protein in medium)/(surface area in contact with medium per cell)  (1)

The present invention provides an artificial tissue culture comprising a heterogeneous population of cells of at least two different tissue sections, wherein said tissue sections are in a three dimensional structure, method of generating such a tissue and kits suitable for said method or maintain a three dimensional tissue culture.