Guest: Dr. Hans Clevers is a Professor of Molecular Genetics and Distinguished Group Leader at the University of Utrecht. In this episode, he discusses snake gut and lung organoids, transitioning from academia to industry, and the challenges and complexities of creating a cell therapy. Featured Products and Resources: Registration and abstracts are open for the ISSCR 2026 annual meeting. Receive an offer to try IntestiCult in your lab. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Computers Made From Human Brain Cells – Researchers have shown that structured neuronal firing sequences appear in spontaneous activity of human and murine brain organoids. Organoids Replicate Vascular Pathology – Scientists have developed a blood vessel organoid model from Hutchinson-Gilford progeria syndrome-mutant hESCs. Effects of Spaceflight on Stem Cells – Analyses of nine astronauts before, during, and after three short-duration International Space Station missions shows space-associated stem cell hallmarks of aging and resilience. The Role of Lysosomes in HSC Aging – Reversing lysosomal dysfunction restores youthful state in aged hematopoietic stem cells. Photo Reference: Courtesy of Hans Clevers Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Thomas Vierbuchen is Assistant Professor of Developmental Biology at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center. In this episode, he talks about using PSCs to model neurodevelopmental processes. He also discusses his direct reprogramming work and his lab’s recent study on OTX2 in gastrulation. (42:02) Featured Products and Resources: Submit your abstract for ISSCR 2026! Explore STEMCELL Technologies’ collection of technical videos and webinars on neurological disease modeling. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Restoring Function After Spinal Cord Injury: In a non-human primate model of spinal injury, researchers grafted ESC-derived spinal cord neural stem cells and improved forelimb function. (2:00) Improving HSC Expansion: Inhibiting ferroptosis augments the expansion of HSCs ex vivo. (11:40) Cardiomyocytes and Macrophage Reprogramming: Injury-induced Clusterin+ cardiomyocytes promote neonatal heart regeneration by reprogramming macrophages. (21:27) Bone Marrow Organoids: A 3D in vitro bone marrow model captures phenotypic, structural, and functional features of human endosteal bone marrow niches. (33:03) Image courtesy of Dr. Thomas Vierbuchen Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Sumru Bayin is a Group Leader at the Gurdon Institute at the University of Cambridge. She talks about her work on regeneration in the neonatal mouse cerebellum and how cerebellar interneurons differentiate. She also discusses organizing a workshop to facilitate collaborations in regenerative biology, and her memories of the late Sir John Gurdon. (40:30) Featured Products and Resources: Keep current with the latest in neural cell news. STEMdiff™ Neural Crest Differentiation Kit The Stem Cell Science Round Up Heart-Macrophage Assembloids – Human heart–macrophage assembloids enable the study of immune–cardiac interactions and the modeling of arrhythmias. (1:41) Human Nucleus Basalis Organoids – Human nucleus basalis of Meynert organoids can fuse with human cortical organoids and are used to model neurodevelopmental disorders. (11:15) A Brain Organoid Atlas – Scientists used iPSCs from patients with neurodevelopmental disorders to generate a brain organoid atlas. (20:19) Human Cortex Development – Lineage tracing in human tissue samples provides insight into lineage relationships between cortical cell types. (28:03) Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Juan Melero-Martin is an Associate Professor and the Endowed Chair in Cardiac Surgery at Boston Children’s Hospital. His lab uses bioengineering principles to understand how vascular networks are formed and the mechanisms by which the vasculature modulates the engraftment and activity of various human stem cells. (42:03) Featured Products and Resources: Save time and stay current with ESC & iPSC News. Learn experimental procedures and laboratory techniques for life science research The Stem Cell Science Round Up Chromosomal Genes Linked to Heart Disease – Scientists identified HMGN1, a nuclear binding protein, as a key contributor to trisomy 21-related congenital heart defects. (1:46) Questioning Common Technique for Assessing IVF Embryos – Live imaging of late-stage preimplantation human embryos suggests that abnormalities can arise at a later stage of development than previously thought. (14:14) Vitamin C Protects Ovaries – Scientists have shown that oral vitamin C protects against ovarian aging in primates. (24:07) Multi-Branching Cell Differentiation Trajectories – A new Hodge Laplacian model has advanced single-cell multimodal data analysis by providing highly reliable results for complex multi-branching trajectories. (33:58) Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Juan Melero-Martin. Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Carole LaBonne is the Erastus Otis Haven Professor of Molecular Biosciences at Northwestern University. Her lab studies the genesis of neural crest stem cells at the level of the signaling pathways and transcription factors that comprise the neural crest gene regulatory network. They also study how these mechanisms contribute to exit from pluripotency and the subsequent lineage restriction of neural crest cells to their derivative cell types that collectively define vertebrates. (39:45) Featured Products and Resources: Save time and stay current with ESC & iPSC News. Generate high-purity neural crest precursors from hPSCs with the STEMdiff Neural Crest Differentiation Kit. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Creating Modified Cows and Sheep from Haploid Stem Cells – Scientists have successfully derived haploid androgenetic ESCs from cattle and sheep, and have developed a novel method to generate offspring from these cells. (4:33) Embryonic Stem Cells from Birds – Researchers have succeeded in deriving and maintaining authentic ESCs from chickens and seven other bird species. (13:48) Mutation Hotspots Reveal Spermatogonia Clonal Growth – As men age, harmful genetic mutations in sperm not only accumulate but are also favored during sperm production, giving them a reproductive advantage. (20:35) Canine iPSC Technology – Researchers have established culture conditions for canine iPSCs. (31:10) Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Carole LaBonne Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Paul Tesar is the Director of the Institute for Glial Sciences and the Dr. Donald and Ruth Weber Goodman Professor of Innovative Therapeutics at Case Western Reserve University. His lab uses PSCs to model neurological development and disease with a specific focus on oligodendrocytes and astrocytes. He talks about his work on oligodendrocyte maturation, advancing research into the commercial and clinical sectors, and mentoring the next generation of scientists. (42:17) Featured Products and Resources: STEMdiff Neural Crest Differentiation Kit enables high-purity generation of neural crest precursors from human pluripotent stem cells. Explore STEMCELL Technologies’ collection of technical videos and webinars on neurological disease modeling. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Spatially Patterned Kidney Assembloids – Genome-edited kidney progenitor assembloids recapitulate hallmarks of human autosomal dominant polycystic kidney disease. (5:50) Transposable Elements Controlling Cell Fate – This study highlights the role of transposable elements as mechano-response enhancer elements that control human cell fate and gene expression. (13:54) Cardiac Injury Recovery – Targeting a remote injury response in a non-cardiomyocyte cell type rapidly promotes post-myocardial infarction recovery of non-regenerative hearts. (22:47) Intestinal Fibrosis in Crohn’s Disease – A mouse model of creeping fat recapitulates key features of Crohn’s disease strictures. (31:40) Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Lars Velten is a Group Leader at the Centre for Genomic Regulation in Barcelona. He talks about his research on cell-state-specific enhancers in hematopoiesis and lineage tracing techniques to study blood aging. He also discusses combining generative AI with wet lab techniques and the advantages of risk-taking in basic research. (40:41) Featured Products and Resources: StemSpan™ Hematopoietic Cell Media and Supplements Explore educational resources to help you further your research on hematopoiesis and hematological malignancies. The Stem Cell Science Round Up HSPC Aging in Space – Spaceflight reduces telomere maintenance and HSPC self-renewal. (1:50) Modeling Myelin Repair – Brain organoids with integrated microglia enabled the investigation of demyelination and remyelination. (14:45) Gastric Cancer Organoids – Scientists identified ligand-receptor pairs likely to be involved in fetal HSC migration and maintenance. (25:55) Gastroids to Model Stomach Development – This study reveals a principle for instructing gastric patterning and provides a platform for advancing knowledge of stomach organogenesis. (33:10) Image courtesy of Dr. Lars Velten Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Alice Soragni is an Associate Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles. She talks about her work on patient-derived organoids and how they can be adapted for drug screening. She also discusses how she transitioned from structural biology to research on protein aggregation and rare diseases, and the current social media landscape for scientists. (45:20) Featured Products and Resources: Download a free wallchart on the applications of organoid cultures. Take your human pluripotent stem cell cultures further with mTeSR™ Plus. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Optogenetic Control of Morphogen Production – Researchers established a model that recapitulates Sonic hedgehog-mediated patterning of the vertebrate neural tube. (4:17) Oligodendrocyte Maturation – Reducing SOX6 levels unlocks oligodendrocyte maturation and myelination. (15:45) CAR T Therapy for Kidney Disease – Targeting extracellular matrix-producing cells with CAR T therapy is a therapeutic strategy for chronic kidney disease. (24:44) Lung Xenotransplantation – A lung from a gene-edited pig was transplanted into a brain-dead human recipient. (35:00) Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Zhongwei Li is an Associate Professor at the University of Southern California. His lab focuses on kidney organogenesis with translational applications of kidney regeneration and disease modeling. He talks about his work on PSC-derived nephron progenitors and drug discovery applications for polycystic kidney disease. (40:12) Featured Products and Resources: Share your feedback and enter to win a Bluetooth speaker! Take your human pluripotent stem cell cultures further with mTeSR™ Plus. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Chemically Induced Embryo Founder Cells: A small-molecule-only approach was used to induce mouse embryonic stem cells into embryo founder cells, which generated a mouse embryo model. (1:45) Transgene-Free Embryo Models: Scientists generated transgene-free stem cell-based embryo models solely from mouse naïve PSCs. (13:25) Hypoimmune CAR T Cells: Allogeneic hypoimmune CAR T cells do not induce an immune response in patients. (21:15) Reconstructing PSC-Islets: PSC-islets comprising all five endocrine subtypes were reconstructed and transplanted into mice. (32:03) Image courtesy of Dr. Zhongwei Li Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Mark Hatley is an Associate Faculty Member and Director of the Division of Molecular Oncology at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. His research focuses on the developmental origins and genetic mechanisms of pediatric rhabdomyosarcoma. He talks about his work on pediatric oncology and the mechanisms that differentiate normal development from cancer. He also discusses the role of PAX3-FOXO1 and DICER1 in tumorigenesis. (37:50) Featured Products and Resources: Share your feedback and enter to win a Bluetooth speaker! Get a free wallchart that explains the functions, properties, and identifying markers of MSCs. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Transplanting Allogeneic Beta Cells – Researchers transplanted genetically modified allogeneic donor islet cells into a man with long-standing type 1 diabetes. (1:37) Pig Liver Xenotransplantation – RNA sequencing highlights how innate immune cells may affect thrombotic and immune pathways after liver xenotransplantation. (12:03) Chemical Reprogramming – A new method generates hCiPS cells from both cord blood and adult peripheral blood cells. (21:10) T Cell Development – Soluble Notch agonists support T cell development in suspension bioreactor culture. (27:30) Image courtesy of Dr. Mark Hatley Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Jeanne Loring is a Co-Founder of Aspen Neuroscience and Professor Emeritus at Scripps Research. She talks about generating gametes from the functionally extinct northern white rhinoceros, Aspen’s early days and its recent clinical trial results for Parkinson’s cell therapy, and sending her own stem cells into space. She also discusses the need for genetic variation in iPSC lines. (46:23) Featured Products and Resources: Help shape the future of the stem cell podcast by completing this ten-minute survey. Explore STEMCELL Technologies’ collection of technical videos and webinars on neurological disease modeling. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Lack of Evidence for Transitional Cerebellar Progenitors – New analysis of single-cell RNA sequencing refutes the existence of transitional cerebellar progenitor cells. (1:50) Organoid Vascularization – Vascularized organoids resemble human fetal lung and intestine features. (17:05) Metabolic Profiling of HSPCs – Researchers presented the integrated metabolome, lipidome, and transcriptome of human adult HSPCs upon differentiation, aging, and acute myeloid leukemia. (28:40) Blood Vessels in Liver Organoids – Scientists generated liver organoids that contain fully perfused human vessels with functional sinusoid-like features. (37:00) Image courtesy of Dr. Jeanne Loring Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. James Briscoe is a Group Leader at the Francis Crick Institute and Editor-In-Chief of Development. His lab uses an interdisciplinary approach, including mice, chicks, and other models, to study developmental dynamics. He discusses his lab’s work on human trunk formation and his role as an Editor-In-Chief. (44:55) Featured Products and Resources: Enter to win a personalized lab coat! Wallchart: Building Three-Dimensional Human Brain Organoids The Stem Cell Science Round Up Neural Organoid Self-Organization – Researchers used live light-sheet microscopy to track organoid development. (1:30) Lung Cancer Organoids – A gel-liquid interface co-culture model of lung cancer organoids represents immunotherapy results in lung cancer patients. (13:25) Digital Reconstruction of Embryos – Scientists reconstructed full digital mouse embryos at single-cell resolution during early organogenesis. (22:00) Rapid Generation of Vascular Organoids – A new vascular organoid platform has broad potential for vascular modeling, disease studies, and regenerative cell therapy. (32:17) Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
In June 2025, we attended ISSCR 2025, the annual meeting of the International Society for Stem Cell Research, in Hong Kong. We spoke with delegates about their research, their impressions of the meeting, and the most memorable research presented. They also discussed their experiences exploring Hong Kong. Featured Products and Resources: Wallchart: Reporting Practices for Publishing Results with hPSCs Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guests: Dr. Hongkui Deng is the Director of the Institute of Stem Cell Research at Peking University and Dr. Candice Liew is a Senior Scientist at Reprogenix Bioscience. In this special episode recorded in front of a live audience at ISSCR 2025 in Hong Kong, they discuss their groundbreaking study transplanting CiPSC-derived islets into a patient with type 1 diabetes. They talk about their approach to chemical reprogramming, immune tolerance, and the therapy’s impact on the first patient. Featured Products and Resources: Wallchart: Directed Differentiation of ESCs and iPSCs Images courtesy of Drs. Hongkui Deng and Candice Liew Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the final of four episodes from the meeting. Sessions focused on cell therapy for spinal cord injury, immunocompatible pig organs, and community engagement. Featured Products and Resources: Are you taking a cell therapy to clinic? Work with a dedicated team that understands the path from bench to bedside. Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the third of four episodes, where Daylon and Arun discuss research on cell therapy for inflammatory bowel disease and hearing loss. They also talk about Dr. Jacob Hanna’s work on ex utero embryo culture, Dr. Paola Arlotta’s research on long-term brain organoids, and Di Pan’s insights into sponge regeneration. Featured Products and Resources: Get access to free, on-demand training courses to help you master techniques in hPSC, hematopoietic, organoid, neural, and other specialized cell types. Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the second of four episodes, where Daylon and Arun cover talks on animal models of regeneration and the public perception of in vitro gametogenesis. They also discuss work on CiPSCs for Type 1 diabetes therapy and growing pig-human chimeric embryos. Featured Products and Resources: Explore the possibilities for reproducible, high-quality hPSC differentiation with easy-to-use serum-free kits. Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the first of four episodes, where Daylon and Arun discuss updates from clinical trials for ALS, congenital heart disease, and Parkinson’s disease. They also talk about the Presidential Plenary session, chaired by Dr. Valentina Greco. Featured Products and Resources: Start your research confidently with a reliable source of human iPSC products. Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Maneesha Inamdar is the Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Science and Regenerative Medicine and Professor at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. Her lab uses comparative models, including mice, Drosophila, stem cell lines, and gastruloids, to study developmental biology. She talks about using embryo models to investigate teratogenicity, prioritizing ethnically diverse cell lines, and representing Indian scientists in global discussions. (44:03) Featured Products and Resources: Enter to win a personalized lab coat! Free On-Demand Training: Expansion of hPSCs in 3D Suspension Culture The Stem Cell Science Round Up Vascularized Cardiac and Hepatic Organoids – An in vitro model mimics the earliest developmental stages of cardiac and hepatic organoid vascularization. (1:50) Mouse Liver Assembloids – A multicellular organoid system recapitulates the architecture of the liver periportal region. (14:55) Dilated Cardiomyopathy Mechanisms – Researchers investigated the effects of cardiac troponin T dysregulation on sarcomere–mitochondrial communication in dilated cardiomyopathy. (26:05) Mitochondrial DNA Base Editors – Scientists modeled and corrected a mitochondrial disease using engineered base editors in rat zygotes. (35:00) Image courtesy of Dr. Maneesha Inamdar Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guests: Dr. Jacqueline Barry is the Chief Clinical Officer at Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult, Dr. Kapil Bharti is a Senior Investigator at the National Eye Institute at the National Institutes of Health, and Dr. Jack Mosher is the Scientific Director at the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR). They discuss their work on the ISSCR’s Best Practices for the Development of Pluripotent Stem Cell-Derived Cellular Therapies. They talk about the need for consistency and rigor in cell therapy development, and how the document can be navigated and applied across jurisdictions. (44:59) Featured Products and Resources: ISSCR 2025 is happening June 11-14 in Hong Kong! Enter to win a personalized lab coat! The Stem Cell Science Round Up Gene Editing for a Rare Genetic Disease – A customized lipid nanoparticle-delivered base-editing therapy was used to treat a neonate with severe carbamoyl-phosphate synthetase 1 deficiency. (2:00) Digitalized Organoids – An AI-powered pipeline allows for plug-and-play image analysis of diverse 3D cellular structures across multiple imaging resolutions. (13:30) Post-Gastrulation Amnioids – Amnioids mimic the cellular identities, proteome, and metabolome of the human amniotic sac. (24:00) Cerebral Cortex Expansion – A human accelerated region enhancer modulates cortical development by influencing neural progenitor cell behavior. (32:00) Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Margaret “Peggy” Goodell is the Vivian L. Smith Chair in Regenerative Medicine and Director of the Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine Center at Baylor College of Medicine. Her research focuses on HSC regulation and aging. She talks about her discovery of a side population of HSCs, as well as her work on DNMT3A mutation and clonal hematopoiesis of indeterminate potential. She also discusses the rich research environment in Houston. (42:41) Featured Products and Resources: Check out the program for ISSCR 2025! Enter to win a custom lab coat, personalized with your name! The Stem Cell Science Round Up Human Fetal Ventral Mesencephalic Transplantation – Patients with Parkinson’s disease treated with fetal tissue were assessed three years after surgery. (1:48) Mechanosensing Inhibition for Cardiac Fibrosis – Researchers identified a dual-drug strategy to combat cardiac fibrosis by targeting fibroblast mechanosensing pathways. (14:26) Patterning of Brain Organoids – Orthogonal WNTs/SHH gradients pattern organoids into forebrain, midbrain, and hindbrain. (26:11) Hepatocyte Organoid Expansion – Combined activation of Wnt and STAT3 signaling enables long-term self-renewal of human adult hepatocyte organoids. (34:22) Image courtesy of Dr. Margaret Goodell Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Sarah Teichmann is a Member of the Department of Medicine and Professor of Stem Cell Medicine at the Cambridge Stem Cell Institute. She talks about the plasticity of different cell types and developing whole-organ cell atlases for organs such as the thymus. She also discusses the Human Cell Atlas project and overcoming skepticism in its early days. Finally, she talks about integrating computational with wet lab biology, and running an interdisciplinary research group. (43:30) Featured Products and Resources: Register now for ISSCR 2025! Enter to win an EasySep™ kit and magnet, cell culture reagents, and more by May 30th! The Stem Cell Science Round Up Parkinson’s Disease Cell Therapy Trials – Two trials confirm the safety of stem cell-derived dopaminergic neurons for Parkinson’s disease. (1:30) Multi-Zonal Liver Organoids – Researchers developed a self-assembling zone-specific liver organoid to evaluate hepatic zonal polarity. (13:23) Protein Delivery to the Brain – iPSC-microglia can be harnessed to provide a promising new cell therapy platform. (22:00) Blood Vessel Organoids – Transcription factor-based programming of blood vessel organoids promotes brain vasculature specificity. (33:33) Image courtesy of Dr. Sarah Teichmann Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Professor Hank Greely is the Deane F. and Kate Edelman Johnson Professor of Law and Professor, by courtesy, of Genetics at Stanford University. He is also the Director of the Stanford Center for Law and the Biosciences. He talks about his career path into bioethics and ethical considerations for organoids, bodyoids, and embryo models. He also discusses the potential future of reproduction, including gametogenesis, ectogenesis, and genetic selection and editing of embryos. (35:47) Featured Products and Resources: Register now for ISSCR 2025, happening June 11-15 in Hong Kong! Register now to complete a virtual training course on pluripotent stem cell quality and maintenance. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Somatosensory Assembloids – A four-part assembloid integrates somatosensory, spinal, thalamic and cortical organoids to model the spinothalamic pathway. (1:25) Neural Grafts for Parkinson’s Disease – Cloaked human neural grafts evade immune detection in humanized mouse model. (11:00) Neural Stem Cells Outside the Central Nervous System – Peripheral neural stem cells display features similar to brain neural stem cells, including the ability to differentiate into mature neurons. (19:00) Cell Therapy for Kidney Disease – Expanded hiPSC-derived nephron progenitor cells may be useful cell therapies for acute kidney injury and chronic kidney disease. (28:00) Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Scott Younger is the Director of Disease Gene Engineering within the Genomic Medicine Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital. His research focuses on producing patient-derived cellular models to develop functional precision medicine. He talks about using personalized antisense oligonucleotides to reverse disease phenotypes in organoid models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He also discusses his lab’s personal connections to the rare disease community and the opportunities for collaborations with clinicians at Children’s Mercy. (36:52) Featured Products and Resources: Register now for ISSCR 2025! Learn more about organoid applications for studying human health. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Chronic Stress and Intestinal Stem Cells – Chronic impairs the stemness of intestinal stem cells via the vagal pathway. (1:43) Liver Regeneration – Glutamate metabolically reprograms bone marrow-derived macrophages, subsequently boosting liver regeneration. (9:40) CRISPR Activation in Embryo Models – CRISPR activation-programmed embryo models mimic the pre-gastrulation embryonic stage. (18:30) Retinal Regeneration – Human neural retinal stem-like cells in fetal retinas exhibit substantial self-renewal and differentiation potential. (27:45) Image courtesy of Dr. Scott Younger Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guests: Dr. Valentina Greco is the President of the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR), and Professor of Genetics and Co-Chair of the Status of Women in Medicine at Yale University. Dr. Kathryn Cheah is an ISSCR Program Committee Co-Chair and Emeritus Professor and Chair of Biochemistry at Hong Kong University. Dr. Eugenia Piddini is also an ISSCR Program Committee Co-Chair and Professorial Research Fellow in Cell Biology and School Research Director at the University of Bristol. They talk about the upcoming ISSCR 2025 meeting in Hong Kong from June 11-14, 2025. They discuss the meeting’s global focus, program highlights, opportunities for early-career researchers, and what they’re looking forward to in Hong Kong. (37:44) Featured Products and Resources: Submit your abstract for ISSCR 2025! Wallchart: Reporting Practices for Publishing Results with hPSCs The Stem Cell Science Round Up Intestinal Organoids with Enteric Neurons – Researchers transplanted human intestinal organoids into mice, where the organoids matured and demonstrated enteric nervous system function. (2:10) Liver Regeneration and Repair – Hepatic stellate cells regulate hepatocyte functions via R-spondin 3. (11:00) Epithelial Regeneration – The mesenchymal Aspn-producing niche modulates tissue repair by regulating epithelial fetal-like reprogramming. (19:45) Whole-Transcriptome Sequencing – Spotiphy is a computational toolkit that transforms sequencing-based spatially resolved transcriptomics data into whole-transcriptome images with single-cell resolution. (28:55) Images courtesy of the ISSCR Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Robert Zweigerdt is a Principal Investigator at Hannover Medical School, where his lab focuses on cardiac differentiation and the scalable culture of PSCs. He talks about regulating the lineage-specific differentiation of hPSCs and generating heart-forming organoids that mirror developmental cardiogenesis. He also discusses the importance of mentorship and the benefits of an international research group. Featured Products and Resources: Register now for ISSCR 2025, taking place June 11-14 in Hong Kong! Use STEMCELL’s STEMdiff™ Cardiomyocyte media and supplements to differentiate, enrich, expand, and cryopreserve functional hPSC-derived cardiomyocytes. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Dissecting Mouse Embryo Models – Researchers used deep learning to classify and dissect the experimental variability of stem cell-derived embryo models. Human Brain Evolution – Scientists used CRISPR interference to characterize human accelerated regions of the human genome and their chimpanzee orthologues. Preventing Skin Scarring – Verteporfin, a YAP inhibitor, promotes scarless healing and wound regeneration in pigs. Modeling Pulmonary Fibrosis – Induced respiratory airway progenitors provide a model for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis drug discovery and validation. Image courtesy of Dr. Robert Zweigerdt Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Giorgia Quadrato is Assistant Professor of Stem Cell and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Southern California. Her research focuses on brain developmental and neural organoids. She talks about protocols for generating cerebellar organoids, including those with functional Purkinje cells. She also discusses a transcriptomic atlas of neural organoids and the stem cell research landscape in California. (34:52) Featured Products and Resources: Submit Your Abstract for ISSCR 2025! Register for a Free On-Demand Neural Induction Course. The Stem Cell Science Round Up Liver Cell Fate Plasticity – Researchers identified PROX1 as a safeguard to prevent liver tumorigenesis. (1:48) Hepatocyte Gene Editing – Repair Drive is a platform technology for selectively expanding homology-directed repair-corrected hepatocytes in adult mice. (10:05) Autologous Cell Therapy for Parkinson’s – An autologous phase I clinical trial is underway to treat eight Parkinson’s disease patients. (17:13) Brain Tumor Organoids – Individualized patient tumor organoids revealed drug response patterns and underlying resistance mechanisms in brain cancers. (26:54) Image courtesy of Dr. Giorgia Quadrato Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guests: Drs. Andrew Elefanty and Elizabeth Ng are Senior Principal Investigator and Principal Investigator, respectively, at the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute. In the Blood Development group, they aim to develop innovative cellular therapies for blood and cartilage-related diseases. They talk about their recent study deriving and transplanting HSCs, their work on reporter lines, and their collaborative lab setup. Featured Products and Resources: Register now for ISSCR 2025! Register: On-Demand Hematopoietic Course The Stem Cell Science Round Up Heart Repair – An engineered epicardial engineered heart muscle allograft remuscularized a human heart. (2:04) Causes of Preimplantation Failure – Single-embryo proteomics of poor-quality embryos provided insights into preimplantation development failure. (14:57) Imprinting Abnormalities in Mammals – Researchers targeted imprinting abnormalities at their source — embryos from same-sex parents. (25:54) Temperature-Controlled Cell Fate – Melt is a protein that reversibly clusters and translocates to the membrane in response to small temperature changes. (35:47) Image courtesy of Drs. Andrew Elefanty and Elizabeth Ng Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Marius Wernig is a Professor of Pathology and a Co-Director of the Institute for Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at Stanford University, where his research interests include direct reprogramming and neurological disease modeling. He talks about his early work reprogramming neuronal cells from fibroblasts, adopting iPSCs, and growing his lab. He also discusses his recent research on cell therapy for brain and skin diseases, as well as his musical talents outside of the lab. (39:58) Featured Products and Resources: Register now for ISSCR 2025! STEMdiff™ Neural Crest Differentiation Kit The Stem Cell Science Round Up Transplanting a Pig Heart – Researchers transplanted a gene-edited porcine heart into a patient with heart failure. (1:53) Regeneration after Viral Infection – Using single-cell transcriptomics and lineage tracing, scientists examined mouse lung regeneration after influenza. (13:18) Human Brain Development – A new single-cell atlas sheds light on the molecular and cellular dynamics of the developing human neocortex. (21:38) The Nuclear Matrix in hSPCs – Heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein U promotes the primed state in hPSCs. (30:40) Image courtesy of Dr. Marius Wernig Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
Guest: Dr. Jonathan Thomas “JT” is the President and CEO of the California Institute for Regenerative Medicine (CIRM), an organization that provides funding for stem cell research with the purpose of accelerating treatments for patients in need. He talks about working to ensure diversity in clinical trials and developing treatments that are affordable and accessible to patients. He also discusses the progress during the twenty years since CIRM’s inception, training the next generation of scientists, and balancing support for basic and clinical research. (41:03) Featured Products and Resources: Register now for ISSCR 2025 in Hong Kong! Cell Quality Attributes of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells The Stem Cell Science Round Up Regulating Naive Pluripotency – Scientists used a targeted rapid protein degradation system to show that GABPA is a master pluripotency regulator. (1:36) Skin Wound Healing – A spatiotemporal atlas of human skin wound tissues identifies FOSL1 as a critical driver of re-epithelialization. (11:50) Bone Marrow Stem Cell Niches – The bone marrow niche orchestrates hierarchy in stem cells and immune tolerance. (20:49) Synthetic Organizer Cells – Synthetic organizer cells self-assemble around stem cells and produce morphogens. (30:50) Image courtesy of Dr. Jonathan Thomas Subscribe to our newsletter! Never miss updates about new episodes. Subscribe
