The invention provides methods for reprogramming somatic cells to generate multipotent or pluripotent cells. Such methods are useful for a variety of purposes, including treating or preventing a medical condition in an individual. The invention further provides methods for identifying an agent that reprograms somatic cells to a less differentiated state.

The present invention pertains to a method for creating reprogramed cells from somatic cells without gene introduction. The method includes a step (a) for culturing somatic cells in a medium containing a histone deacetylase inhibitor, and a step (b) for culturing the cells cultured in step (a) in a medium containing an OCT3/4 transcription stimulating factor to create reprogrammed cells.

The present invention relates to methods for producing an induced pluripotent stem (iPSC), the method comprising the following steps in order: culturing a somatic cell in a first culture condition adapted to promote the reprogramming of the cell towards a pluripotent state; culturing the cell in a second culture condition adapted to promote a hypomethylated DNA state in the cell; and culturing the cell in a third culture condition adapted to promote a primed pluripotent state, thereby producing an iPSC from a somatic cell. The invention also relates to cells and compositions resulting from those methods.

The present invention provides differentiated neural cells and methods for making differentiated neural cells from pluripotent stem cells (PSC) at an industrial scale sufficient for high-throughput assays. The methods of the invention allow billions of PSCs and/or neural cells differentiated from the PSCs to be cryopreserved and expanded at multiple steps.

The present invention provides a method for reprogramming a human somatic cell to a cell exhibiting at least one characteristic of a trophoblast stem cell (TSC), the method comprising the following steps in order: a) increasing the protein expression of one or more factors in the somatic cell, wherein the factors are for reprogramming the somatic cell towards a pluripotent state; b) culturing the cell for a sufficient time and under conditions to allow the reprogramming of the cell towards a pluripotent state; c) contacting the cell with a culture medium suitable for sustaining trophoblast stem cells (TSC); and d) culturing the cell in the TSC medium for a sufficient time and under conditions to allow the cell to exhibit at least one characteristic of a TSC, thereby reprogramming the somatic cell to a cell exhibiting at least one characteristic of a TSC.

The present disclosure relates to methods of preparing cell-based products for human consumption, in particular, from populations of such cell types as hepatocytes, adipocytes, myoblasts, and/or fibroblasts.

The present invention is primarily directed to provide a new process capable of performing direct conversion of or induction from a somatic cell to brown adipocytes with low molecular weight compounds, without performing artificial gene transfer.

The present invention includes, for example, a process for producing brown adipocytes by direct differentiation induction from somatic cells, comprising a step of culturing a somatic cell in a serum-free differentiation induction medium in the presence of a selective PPARγ agonist and a cAMP inducer.

According to the present invention, direct conversion of or induction from somatic cells to brown adipocytes can be effectively performed without gene transfer. The brown adipocytes obtained by the present invention are useful as regenerative medicine, models of human brown adipocytes and human beige cells, and the like.

According to the present disclosure, provided is a method for manufacturing induced pluripotent stem cells including preparing cells and introducing RNA into the cells, wherein the RNA includes RNA encoding a reprogramming factor and wherein, in the RNA introduced into the cells, double-stranded RNA is substantially removed.

A method for producing pancreatic endocrine cells, including introducing (A), (B), (C), or (D) into somatic cells: (A) mutated GLIS1 gene having 85%-sequence-identity to base sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or gene product(s) thereof, Neurogenin3 gene or gene product(s) thereof, Pdx1 gene or gene product(s) thereof, and MafA gene or gene product(s) thereof; (B) mutated GLIS1 gene having 85%-sequence-identity to base sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or gene product(s) thereof, Neurogenin3 gene or gene product(s) thereof, and Pdx1 gene or gene product(s) thereof (C) GLIS1 gene or gene product(s) thereof, Neurogenin3 gene or gene product(s) thereof, Pdx1 gene or gene product(s) thereof, and MafA gene or gene product(s) thereof and (D) mutated GLIS1 gene having 85%-sequence-identity to base sequence of SEQ ID NO: 1 or 2 or gene product(s) thereof, Neurogenin3 gene or gene product(s) thereof, and MafA gene or gene product(s) thereof.

Embodiments of the disclosure concern methods and compositions related to cancer treatment for an individual utilizing recombinant fibroblast cells that comprise one or more activities that are endothelial cell-like. The cells are delivered to a tumor microenvironment following which their death results in destabilization of the tumor vasculature. In particular embodiments, the fibroblast cells recombinantly express one or more of ETV2, FOXC2, and FLI1.