The present disclosure provides methods of lineage specific differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, including induced pluripotent stem cells, into floor plate midbrain progenitor cells, determined dopamine (DA) neuron progenitor cells, and/or DA neurons. Also provided are compositions uses thereof, such as for treating neurodegenerative diseases and conditions, including Parkinson's disease.

The present invention relates to a chemically defined medium for eukaryotic cell culture, comprising water, at least one carbon source, one or more vitamins, one or more salts, one or more growth factors, one or more fatty acids, one or more buffer components, selenium and one or more further trace elements and its use in the culture of cancer stem cells, in particular tumorsphere culture of cancer stem cells.

An object of the present invention is to provide a novel method which enables convenient preparation of cells exhibiting functions close to that of intestinal epithelial cells of living bodies, and use of the method. The differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into intestinal epithelial cells is induced by step of differentiating induced pluripotent stem cells into endoderm-like cells; step of differentiating the endoderm-like cells obtained in step into intestinal stem cell-like cells; and step of differentiating the intestinal stem cell-like cells obtained in step into intestinal epithelial cell-like cells, wherein step includes culture in the presence of a MEK1 inhibitor, a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, a TGF-β receptor inhibitor, and EGF and under the condition that cAMP is supplied to the cells.

A method of qualifying whether a cell population is a suitable therapeutic for treating an eye condition is disclosed. The method comprises analyzing co-expression of premelanosome protein (PMEL17) and at least one polypeptide selected from the group consisting of cellular retinaldehyde binding protein (CRALBP), lecithin retinol acyltransferase (LRAT) and sex determining region Y-box 9 (SOX 9) in the population of cells.

A production method for a cerebral organoid having amyloid plaques is provided, the method including a step (a) of forming, in the presence of a SMAD inhibitor, an embryoid body from a pluripotent stem cell having a mutation in an Alzheimer's disease-related gene; a step (b) of embedding the embryoid body after the step (a) in an extracellular matrix and three-dimensionally culturing the embedded embryoid body in the presence of a SMAD inhibitor and a glycogen synthase kinase 3β (GSK3β) inhibitor to form an organoid; and a step (c) of removing the organoid after the step (b) from the extracellular matrix and subjecting the removed organoid to stirring culture in a medium, where at least a part of the step (c) is carried out in the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF).

The present invention relates to the angiogenesis agent containing a mesenchymal stem cell-derived extracellular vesicle, as an active ingredient, in which an extracellular vesicle is obtained by a method of using a substance that contains an extracellular vesicle having an affinity for phosphatidylserine, or/and an extracellular vesicle is derived from a mesenchymal stem cell stimulated with a growth factor, and relates to a method of producing an extracellular vesicle as the angiogenesis agent.

Described herein are methods of generating induced muscle progenitor cells (iMPCs) and uses thereof. Embodiments further provide for methods of promoting muscle regeneration and/or repair and methods of treating a muscle disease or disorder.

The application discloses a method for obtaining MSC-derived cells with improved transplantation properties from MSC, the method comprising a cell size reduction step, wherein said cell size reduction step is characterized by contacting MSC or MSC-derived cells in vitro or ex vivo with heparin or a derivative or analogue thereof at a concentration of at least 0.01 IU/ml. The application further provides a method for obtaining mesenchymal stem cell-derived cells from mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) comprising contacting MSC in vitro or ex vivo with FGF-2, TGFβ and at least 0.01 IU/ml heparin or a derivative or analogue thereof. The invention also provides the so-obtained cells and cell populations, as well as further products comprising such and uses thereof.

The present invention provides a new method for producing Engineered Heart Muscle (EHM) under chemically fully defined conditions all compatible with GMP regulations. The resulting human myocardium generates force and shows typical heart muscle properties.

Provided is a method of inducing oligodendrocyte precursor cells (OPCs) through direct reprogramming from human somatic cells into which a nucleic acid molecule encoding an Oct4 protein or Oct4 protein-treated human somatic cells. The method of inducing OPCs by treating Oct4-overexpressing human somatic cells with a low molecular weight substance may establish OPCs with high efficiency in a short period of time through direct reprogramming without via neural stem cells, and thus the OPCs are useful as a cell therapeutic agent for an intractable demyelinating disease.