Composition useful for, among other things, culturing and enumerating microorganisms, and associated methods.

The present invention relates to a composition, comprising: IL-1β and vitamin B6; or IL-1β, vitamin B6, and IFN-α, for promoting immunomodulatory activity and inflammation-modulating ability of stem cells, and a method for preparing stem cells having improved immunomodulatory activity and inflammation-modulating ability by using same. When treated with IL-1β and vitamin B6; or IL-1β, vitamin B6, and IFN-α according to the present invention, stem cells are induced to increase IFN-γ inhibition, inducible costimulatory ligand (ICOSL) expression, indoleamine 2,3-dioxygenase (IDO) expression, and Galectin 1 expression, and thus can find various applications in a variety of immune disease treatment fields using stem cells.

The present invention relates to a method of patterning and chopping 3D organoids prepared from human pluripotent stem cells, culturing the stem cells or progenitor cells, and inducing the differentiation thereof to obtain a large amount of finally differentiated cells. Compared to cells differentiated by a conventional differentiation method, the cells obtained in a large amount exhibit remarkably superior effects in terms of reproducibility, stability, and functionality, and thus are expected to be very useful for cell therapeutic agents or for the screening of therapeutic drugs.

Disclosures herein are directed to chemically defined animal-derived component free supplements designed for individual cell types that supports the ex vivo growth of cells as well or better than serum, in chemically defined conditions.

Provided are a novel compound having CDK8 and/or CDK19 inhibitory activity, and a production method for Tregs. The treatment of T cells with a CDK8 and/or CDK19 inhibitor induces Foxp3 in the T cells. Foxp3.sup.+ T cells can be induced by treating Foxp3.sup.− T cells with the CDK8 and/or CDK19 inhibitor in vitro. Thus, Tregs can be induced.

A method for producing CD4/CD8 double-positive T cells, comprising the steps of: (1) culturing pluripotent stem cells in a medium to induce hematopoietic progenitor cells; and (2) culturing the hematopoietic progenitor cells obtained in the step (1) in a medium containing a p38 inhibitor and/or SDF-1 to induce CD4/CD8 double-positive T cells.

The present invention relates to a fibrocartilage preparation method and fibrocartilage prepared by the method.

Compositions and methods for inducing pluripotent stem cells into retinal ganglion cells for administration to a subject for treating progressive optic neuropathies, thereby alleviating symptoms of such disorders including glaucoma.

The invention relates to differentiation methods for progenitor cells, e.g. mammalian epithelial stem cells, differentiation media for use in said methods, organoids and cells obtainable by said methods and uses, including therapeutic uses, thereof.

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.