Disclosed herein are cell cultures comprising dorsal and/or ventral PDX1-positive foregut endoderm cells and methods of producing the same. Also disclosed herein are cell populations comprising substantially purified dorsal and/or ventral PDX1-positive foregut endoderm cells as well as methods for enriching, isolating and purifying dorsal and/or ventral PDX1-positive foregut endoderm cells from other cell types. Methods of identifying differentiation factors capable of promoting the differentiation of dorsal and/or ventral PDX1-positive foregut endoderm cells, are also disclosed.

The present invention relates to a method for generating neuronal and muscular cells from pluripotent stem cells.

Methods for differentiating pluripotent stem cells to neuroectoderm in dynamic suspension culture using small molecule or protein inhibitors of TGFβ/Activin/Nodal signaling and BMP signaling are provided. Also provided are methot and protocols for differentiating pluripotent stem cells such as human embryonic stem cells first to neuroectoderm, then further to glial progenitor cells, and further to oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), and compositions obtained thereby. The methods of the present disclosure reproducibly produce neuroectoderm progenitor cells by day 7 of the differentiation process, glial progenitor cells by day 21 of the differentiation process and OPCs by day 42 of the differentiation process.

The present invention relates to the generation of anterior definitive endoderm (ADE) cells from embryonic stem cells and the differentiation of such cells to, for example, pancreatic or liver cells. The invention also relates to cell lines, cell culture methods, cell markers and the like and their potential uses in a variety of applications.

The present disclosure relates to methods for producing dopaminergic cells and evaluating their functionality. When pluripotent human embryonic stem cells are cultured on plates coated with laminin-111, laminin-121, laminin-521, laminin-421, or laminin-511 in cell culture medium containing a GSK3 inhibitor and a TGF-β inhibitor as well as timely administered fibroblast growth factor, desired neural cells are produced at far higher rates. Useful cell culture kits for producing such dopaminergic cells are also described herein, as are methods of using such cells for stem cell therapy.

The invention is directed to in vitro methods of inducing differentiation of anterior foregut endoderm and the enriched populations of anterior foregut endoderm produced by such methods. Such enriched populations are useful for studies of the molecular events that occur during differentiation and for generating cells for cell replacement therapy.

The present invention provides methods and uses of neural cells differentiated from adult stem cells of the oral mucosa for cell therapy of neurological and psychiatric diseases and disorders. Methods for direction of differentiation of oral mucosal stem cells into neuronal or neuron supporting cells are also provided.

The present invention relates to a method for producing cholinergic neurons comprising obtaining neural progenitor cells from stem cells so as to continuously produce cholinergic neural cells with high purity and the same traits, followed by differentiating the neural progenitor cells into the cholinergic neurons, and cholinergic neurons produced therefrom. Since the method of preparing the cholinergic neurons provided in the present invention enables not only production of the cholinergic neurons with high purity, but also rapid production of the cholinergic neurons with the same traits, it can be widely used for effectively treating degenerative cranial nerve diseases such as Alzheimer's disease.

The invention provides a quiescent stem cell having the capacity to differentiate into ectoderm, mesoderm and endoderm, and which does not express cell surface markers including MHC class I, MHC class II, CD44, CD45, CD13, CD34, CD49c, CD73, CD105 and CD90. The invention further provides a proliferative stem cell, which expresses genes including Oct-4, Nanog, Sox2, GDF3, P16INK4, BMI, Notch, HDAC4, TERT, Rex-1 and TWIST but does not express cell surface markers including MHC class I, MHC class II, CD44, CD45, CD13, CD34, CD49c, CD73, CD105 and CD90. The cells of the invention can be isolated from adult mammals, have embryonic cell characteristics, and can form embryoid bodies. Methods for obtaining the stem cells, as well as methods of treating diseases and the differentiated stem cells, are also provided.

The invention provides a method for producing a ciliary marginal zone stem cell induced to differentiate from a pluripotent stem cell, including either the following step (1) or step (2), or both of these steps: (1) a step of floating culturing cells obtained from a cell aggregate containing a ciliary marginal zone-like structure induced to differentiate from pluripotent stem cells, thereby obtaining a retinosphere; and (2) a step of collecting stage specific embryonic antigen-1 positive cells from cells obtained from a cell aggregate containing a ciliary marginal zone-like structure induced to differentiate from pluripotent stem cells.