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)

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

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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)

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)

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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)

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

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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)

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)

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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)

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

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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)

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

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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)

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

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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)

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)

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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.

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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.

Images courtesy of Drs. Hongkui Deng and Candice Liew

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