The Stem Cell Report with Janet Rossant

Bosma arhinia microphthalmia syndrome (BAMS) is a rare genetic disorder resulting in babies born without a nose, along with eye and reproductive anomalies. Our guests today investigated the developmental basis of this distinct defect using induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) derived from patients with BAMS. They assessed the differentiation potential of BAMS patient-derived iPSCs into cranial p...

Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) induced by COVID-19 was a leading cause of severe illness and death during the pandemic, driven by an intense innate immune response, hyperinflammation, and a decrease in lymphocytes. Mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) represent a potential therapeutic option for ARDS due to their ability to modulate the immune system and inflammation. Our guests report res...

Five years ago, The Stem Cell Report set out with a simple goal: to bring the science, the people, and the stories behind stem cell research into one conversation. Since then, the field has advanced at an extraordinary pace—transforming our understanding of development, disease, and regenerative medicine. To celebrate, we’re doing something special. In this anniversary episode, we welcome back pas...

Our guests today created new lab models to study Merkel cells using mouse whisker tissue cultures, mouse skin organoids, and human skin organoids. These models allowed them to study Merkel cells as they develop, validate the role of known signaling pathways, and even identify some new ones. Their work provides easier access to Merkel cells for future studies including disease models to understand...

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are transforming the study of biology and disease by enabling scientists to grow large amounts of specific cell types in the lab that were once difficult to obtain. Our guests today focus on improving the derivation and study of sensory neurons, which are sparse and diverse nerve cells near the spine that carry information like pain, touch, or position of the b...

Epigenetic regulation of gene expression is an important mechanism in development and disease. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most prevalent epigenetic modifications for RNA and has been shown to play critical roles in processes such as embryo development, cancer, and stress responses. Our guests today investigate how m6A regulates X chromosome dosage compensation to ensure proper balance...

The human intestinal epithelial barrier comprises diverse proliferative, secretory and absorptive cell types that facilitate nutrient digestion and absorption and protect against harmful environmental agents. The barrier and its function can vary between individuals due to genetic differences thus impact processes such as digestion, drug metabolism, and drug sensitivity. Our guests today investiga...

The blood-brain barrier (BBB), formed by brain endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes, is organized into a neurovascular unit that regulates the exchange of proteins between blood circulation and brain parenchyma. Human stem-cell-based models using brain endothelial cells are a powerful tool to investigate how disease-related conditions might affect the blood-brain barrier integrity. However...

Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) normally reside in the bone marrow niche but can traffic across the bone marrow endothelium into the bloodstream to populate different niches. This process of HSC mobilization from the bone marrow to the blood, is an increasingly favored procedure to obtain HSCs for hematopoietic cell transplantation therapy. Though mobilization is robust in many donors due to years...

The role of neuronal influences on cancer pathogenesis and progression is increasingly appreciated in the nervous system. Neurons have been shown to enhance the proliferation and migration of gliomas, a glial-derived tumor of the CNS, via diffusible paracrine factors or synaptic inputs onto tumor cells. In glioblastomas, a highly aggressive glioma, mostly glutamatergic inputs have been identified....

Skeletal muscle is one of the most abundant tissues in the human body, representing approximately 40% of body weight. Under certain circumstances, skeletal muscle can be regenerated through satellite cells, a reservoir of quiescent muscle stem cells, that can be activated with injury or in certain diseases and give rise to newly formed multi-nucleated myotubes and myofibers. However, the regenerat...

The potential of pluripotent stem cells and the ability to scale and differentiate them to generate large numbers of enriched cell populations has created new opportunities and approaches to treat human disease. Preclinical proof-of-principle data demonstrates that stem cell-derived neural grafts can be used to reverse symptoms of multiple neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s Disease. Ce...

Parent-specific epigenetic marks (imprints) leading to parent-specific gene expression are crucial for normal growth and development, yet their mechanisms of establishment and maintenance are not fully understood. In humans, approximately 200 imprinted genes have been discovered, and improper imprinting can manifest in growth restriction, obesity, intellectual disabilities, behavioral abnormalitie...

The mature lung in both humans and mice is highly vascularized, with approximately 30% of all cells being endothelial cells (ECs). The blood vessels have a physiological role in gas exchange within the tissue, but the vascular cells have additional role(s) beyond supplying oxygen and nutrients to the tissue.  For example, the adult lung endothelium responds to injury by activating pathways for alv...

In this special edition of the podcast, we will talk with the new Editor-in-Chief Janet Rossant and hear about her vision for the journal, its promising future, and what she sees as some of the exciting prospects over the horizon for stem cell research. We will also talk with Yvonne Fisher, the journal’s Managing Editor, and Jack Mosher of the ISSCR, about the evolution of the journal and its role...

During the last decade, advances in genome editing and pluripotent stem cell (PSC) culture have let researchers generate edited PSC lines to study a wide variety of biological questions. However, abnormalities in cell lines such as aneuploidy, mutations, on-target and off-target editing errors, and microbial contamination can arise during PSC culture or due to undesired editing outcomes. To ensure...

The ability of human pluripotent and somatic stem cells to differentiate into multiple cell types of the human body makes them uniquely useful to model human development and disease. As a result, these cells are shared, edited, and differentiated by laboratories across the world for basic research, clinical translation, and commercial applications. Large and genotypically diverse collections of pl...

Pluripotent stem cells are defined, in part, by their potential to generate cell types from all three embryonic germ layers. However, it is well known within the field that there is variability in developmental potential between cell lines. This phenomenon, sometimes referred to as lineage bias, is manifest in a variable response of individual cell lines to induction of differentiation into a spec...

Epigenetic clocks based on tissue DNA methylation analysis have emerged as robust and powerful biomarkers of aging.  This technology has allowed scientists to investigate how diseases affect the aging process, to evaluate the effectiveness of therapeutic aging interventions, and to correlate age with overall health among the general public. Today you can even purchase test kits online that enable...

Those who study neurological diseases and their underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms have a number of scientific models at their disposal. In vivo animal models, particularly those bearing targeted genetic modifications, remain the gold standard, especially when it comes to assessment of behavioral readouts and neurobiological disease mechanisms in vivo. Historically, animal models have be...

This episode of The Stem Cell Report will discuss the process of directing stem cells to acquire the proper identity, an essential step in the development of effective and durable cell replacement therapies. Specifically, we will talk about the process of directing cells into a ventral mesencephalic dopaminergic fate for treating Parkinson’s disease.  Guests Agnete Kirkeby is an Associate Professo...

Myelination is one of the last events during mammalian brain development and is thought to continue into young adulthood in humans. Even in adulthood, ongoing low-level myelination is essential for neural homeostasis, and for dynamic processes such as learning and memory. Deficits in myelination resulting in abnormal white matter and disruption of neuronal function are observed in a wide variety o...

Biomedical researchers have long sought ways to repair spinal cord damage with the holy grail of the pursuit being the reconstitution of lost function. In the mid 1990’s with the successful culture of human embryonic stem cells, and about a decade later induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs), the field was energized with a potential new approach to replace the lost neurons and glia cells and resto...

Collectively, retinal degenerative disorders are a major cause of blindness worldwide. For example, one of the most common disorders is age related macular degeneration, which alone affects nearly 200 million globally.  In humans, and other mammals, the loss of the retinal cells is an irreversible process. However, in some non-mammalian vertebrates like frogs and fish, retinal neurons can regenera...

Since the 1930’s research using human fetal tissue has been used in numerous scientific and medical advances that have saved millions of lives, including the development of vaccines and treatments for diseases. Despite its substantial contribution to medicine and science, significant public debate and misinformation persists surrounding the ethical use of human fetal tissue in biomedical research....