Provided herein are methods and compositions for the treatment of melanoma using anti-tumor immune cells treated with a PTD-MYC fusion protein (e.g., an HIV TAT-MYC fusion protein).

An object of the present invention is to provide a medium that comprises fewer protein components and enables the maintenance of pluripotent stem cells in an undifferentiated state. The culture medium for pluripotent stem cells comprises a GSK3β inhibitor (A) and a DYRK inhibitor (B).

Reprogramming allows the “conversion” of any mature or somatic cell of the human or animal body into a pluripotent stem cell. Reprogramming can be performed through the introduction of exogenous factors, usually transcription factors, into the mature cell. This process allows the production of induced pluripotent stem cells without the use of embryos, with the advantage that they can be produced from an individual to return/re-implant to the same individual. The inventors have developed a method of transient expression of exogenous reprogramming factors using a transient vector, wherein the vector is a closed linear DNA. Surprisingly, pluripotent stem cells developed in this manner are stable and closer in phenotype to natural stem cells such as ESCs.

The present technology relates generally to the generation of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). In particular aspects, the present technology relates generally to methods for generating iPSCs from non-pluripotent cells, such as aged somatic cells, wherein the iPSCs are characterized by improved genomic stability, improved DNA damage response, increased ZSCAN10 expression, reduced GSS expression, and/or increased reprogramming efficiency.

The present invention provides for methods, compositions, and kits for producing an induced pluripotent stem cell from a non-pluripotent mammalian cell using a 3′-phosphoinositide-dependent kinase-1 (PDK1) activator or a compound that promotes glycolytic metabolism as well as other small molecules.

The disclosure provides methods and compositions useful for obtaining induced stem cells, methods of making and use thereof.

The present invention provides methods for improving the efficiency of inducing pluripotent stem cells, as well as vectors and compositions for use therein. In the induction of pluripotent stem cells which contains the step of introducing a vector that contains the KLF gene, OCT gene, and SOX gene in this order, the efficiency of pluripotent stem cell induction was successfully increased significantly by further introducing a vector that contains the KLF gene but not the OCT gene and the SOX gene. The methods of the present invention have an excellent feature in that they allow efficient induction of pluripotent stem cells under a temperature condition closer to the physiological environment, and prompt vector removal after the pluripotent stem cell induction. The present invention enables more efficient induction of pluripotent stem cells.

The present invention provides an induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cell, or population of iPS cells, wherein the cell or cells giving rise to the iPS cell(s) are obtained from human postpartum tissue or cells, wherein the iPS cell(s) have increased levels of one or more factors selected from Group I: an Oct family member, a Sox family member, a Klf family member, a Myc family member, Nanog, Lin28, and combinations thereof. The present invention also provides differentiated cells derived from the cells of the invention and compositions, including pharmaceutical compositions comprising the cells of the invention. The invention further provides uses of the cells of the invention, e.g., in the treatment of a subject suffering from a disease of disorder. The invention additionally provides methods of generating iPS cell(s) from postpartum tissue, such as the cells of the invention.

The present invention generally provides methods and compositions for transdifferentiation of an animal cell from a first non-pluripotent cell fate to a second non-pluripotent cell fate. Also provided are methods and compositions for the transdifferentiation of an animal cell from a non-pluripotent mesodermal, endodermal, or ectodermal cell fate to a different non-pluripotent mesodermal, endodermal, or ectodermal cell fate.

The present disclosure relates to the production of red blood cells from hematopoietic stem cells, by differentiating such cells in the presence of a protein that induces cell survival and proliferation.