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.

The present invention relates to a decellularized nerve graft using allogeneic and heterologous nervous tissues and a method of manufacturing the same.

In the present invention, by using a low-concentration basic solution and a surfactant as a decellularization solution, cell and tissue toxicity caused by a solvent or surfactant remaining in the tissue may be minimized by minimizing the use of a basic solution and an anionic surfactant in the entire manufacturing process. In addition, a peristaltic pump may be used to maintain the tissue structure and effectively remove lipid and cells.

The present invention relates to a biomimetic nerve chip for evaluating the efficacy and toxicity of a drug, a method for evaluating the efficacy of a drug on nerve cells through astrocytes by using the biomimetic nerve chip, and a method for evaluating the toxicity of a drug on nerve cells through astrocytes by using the biomimetic nerve chip, the biomimetic nerve chip comprising: an astrocyte supply unit and a nerve cell supply unit for simulating nerve tissue; and a culture solution supply unit for supplying a culture solution to the astrocyte supply unit and the nerve cell supply unit. By using the biomimetic nerve chip for evaluating the efficacy and toxicity of a drug provided in the present invention, it is possible to overcome inaccuracies due to differences between the different species in animal experiments in the study of nerve tissues, and using a combination of astrocytes and nerve cells enables use of the nerve chip as a platform to more accurately evaluate the efficacy and toxicity of a drug under conditions similar to in vivo conditions, and the nerve chip can be applied to studies of microenvironments in nerve tissues and other organ-on-a-chip studies. Therefore, the present invention may be utilized in the development of a human-on-a-chip that can effectively analyze the efficacy and toxicity of a drug.

Cranial placodes are embryonic structures essential for sensory and endocrine organ development. The efficient derivation of cranial placodes from human pluripotent stem cells is disclosed where the timed removal of the BMP inhibitor Noggin, a component of the dual-SMAD inhibition strategy of neural induction, triggers placode induction at the expense of CNS fates. Further fate specification at the pre-placode stage enables the selective generation of placode-derived trigeminal ganglia capable of in vivo engraftment, mature lens fibers and anterior pituitary hormone-producing cells that upon transplantation produce hormones including, but not limited to, human growth hormone and adrenocortiocotropic hormone in vivo. Alternatively, anterior pituitary hormone-producing cells are generated in cell culture systems in vitro.

The present invention provides a method with which it is possible to directly induce nervous system cells efficiently and in a short amount of time. Because the method is easy to scale up and is not affected by the characteristics or background of the somatic cells used as material, the method enables the stable supply of nervous system cells. The nervous system cells obtained by the method are useful in various fields of research and healthcare.

The present invention comprises methods and devices for modulating the activity or activities of living cells, such as cells found in or derived from humans, animals, plants, insects, microorganisms and other organisms. Methods of the present invention comprise use of the application of ultrasound, such as low intensity, low frequency ultrasound, to living cells to affect the cells and modulate the cells' activities. Devices of the present invention comprise one or more components for generating ultrasound waves, such as ultrasonic emitters, transducers or piezoelectric transducers, composite transducers, CMUTs, and which may be provided as single or multiple transducers or in an array configurations. The ultrasound waves may be of any shape, and may be focused or unfocused.

The present invention relates to methods for differentiating stem cells into ventral midbrain dopaminergic progenitor cells, and into mesencephalic dopaminergic neurons, and compositions, kits, and uses thereof.

The present invention relates to a method for producing induced dopaminergic neuronal progenitors from adult cells using direct reprogramming, induced dopaminergic neuronal progenitors produced via the method and a use for same, wherein, as a result of having been directly reprogrammed from adult cells, the induced dopaminergic neuronal progenitors produced by means of the present invention can be transplanted inside a living body without the risk of oncogenicity, and have excellent proliferative capacity and dopaminergic neuronal differentiation potency, thus can be usefully utilized as a cell therapy product for Parkinson's disease.

Provided is a method for freezing a cell aggregate including neural cells. provided is a method for freezing a cell aggregate including neural cells and having a three-dimensional structure, which comprises following steps (1) and (2): (1) contacting a cell aggregate including neural cells and having a three-dimensional structure with a preservation solution at 0° C. to 30° C. prior to freezing to prepare a preservation solution-soaked cell aggregate; and (2) cooling the preservation solution-soaked cell aggregate obtained in step (1) from a temperature at least about 5° C. higher than the freezing point of the preservation solution to a temperature about 5° C. lower than the freezing point at an average cooling speed of 2 to 7° C./min to freeze the cell aggregate.

A process of using a fish plasma component in a nutrient medium for cell culture includes obtaining a fish that is a progeny of domesticated broodstock that are reared under consistent and reproducible conditions. Blood is obtained from the fish, and plasma is separated from the blood. One or more specific components of the plasma are then extracted, and cells are cultured in a nutrient medium using the one or more extracted plasma components, and none of any remainder of the plasma. The plasma and/or the plasma components is/are tested for presence and/or level of endotoxin. Extracting the one or more specific components of the plasma, and/or culturing the cells is only performed if the testing indicates an endotoxin level below a predetermined threshold. The cells cultured using the extracted one or more plasma components are other than fish cells.