The Stem Cell Podcast

Dr. Stephane Angers is a Professor at the University of Toronto. He is an expert in the field of signal transduction, working to understand the signaling mechanisms underlying the Wnt and Hedgehog families of growth factors and the large family of G protein-coupled receptors.

Dr. Paul Burridge from Northwestern University talks about his work using human iPSCs to model cardiomyopathy and heart failure.

Back in June 2019, we attended the ISSCR annual conference in Los Angeles, California! Here is the last of three special episodes featuring some of the top researchers in the field, and junior trainees.

Dr. Pekka Katajisto studies the mechanisms that lead to the decline in tissue regeneration during aging.

Back in June 2019, we attended the ISSCR annual conference in Los Angeles, California! Here is the second of three special episodes featuring some of the top researchers in the field, and junior trainees.

Guest:

Dr. Alysson Muotri is a Professor in the Departments of Pediatrics and Cellular & Molecular Medicine at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) School of Medicine, and Co-Director of the UCSD Stem Cell Program. His research focuses on modeling neurological diseases using human iPSCs, and he is leading a project investigating the effect of microgravity on human brain organoids.

Featured Products and Resources:

STEMdiff™ Cerebral Organoid Kit

Organoid Research Resources

Resources and Links

Detecting an Unreported Zika Outbreak using Genetics - By sequencing Zika virus and analyzing travel patterns, a previously unreported 2017 Zika outbreak in Cuba has been identified.

Ketogenic Diet Supports Intestinal Stem Cell Proliferation - Researchers have found that ketone bodies enhance the activity of intestinal stem cells, while a glucose-rich diet has the opposite effect.

Cancer Cells 'Corrupt' Their Healthy Neighbours - Scientists have developed a technique whereby metastatic cancer cells release a cell-penetrating fluorescent protein, allowing them to study the tumor microenvironment.

3D Heart Cell-on-Chip Platform - Investigators have developed an organ-on-an-electronic-chip platform, which uses biosensors to measure the electrophysiology of 3D cardiac spheroids.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Alysson Muotri

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Intro:

Back in June 2019, we attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research's (ISSCR) annual conference in Los Angeles, California! Here is the first of three special episodes featuring interviews with some of the top researchers in the stem cell field, as well as with up-and-coming junior trainees who talked to Daylon about their research and experience at the conference.

Junior Trainees:

We asked Junior Trainees the following question:

WHAT IS THE MOST EXCITING RESEARCH THAT YOU'VE SEEN AT ISSCR?

Dr. Amritha Jaishankar; Associate Director, Maryland Stem Cell Research Fund

Aaron Sandoval; Undergraduate Student, University of Florida

Ana Rita Leitoguinho; Graduate Student, Murdoch Children's Research Institute

Alejandro Torres; Graduate Student, University of California, Los Angeles

Oriana Genolet; Graduate Student, Max Planck Institute

Ojeni Touma; Intern, California Institute for Regenerative Medicine

Vivian Lu; Graduate Student, University of California, Los Angeles

Senior Researchers:

Dr. Senta Georgia, PhD; Principal Investigator, Children's Hospital Los Angeles

Dr. Georgia is investigating how pancreatic beta cells differentiate during organogenesis, how they increase their cell numbers during normal growth and in response to metabolic stress, and how they can be regenerated as a cellular therapy for diabetic patients.

Dr. Tenneille Ludwig, PhD; Director, WiCell Stem Cell Bank

Dr. Ludwig's expertise is in optimizing human pluripotent cell culture conditions, focusing on media development and biobanking. She created the first defined, feeder-free culture system for human embryonic stem cells.

Dr. Kim Jensen, PhD; Associate Professor, Danish Stem Cell Centre

Dr. Jensen seeks to identify and characterize the regulatory mechanisms that control cell fate during development, homeostasis and diseases such as cancer. He focuses on the epithelia of the gastrointestinal tract.

Sir John Gurdon, PhD, DSc, FRS; Distinguished Group Leader, University of Cambridge

Sir John Gurdon was awarded the 2012 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for his pioneering work in nuclear transplantation and cloning. His research focuses on nuclear reprogramming of somatic cells by oocytes and eggs of amphibians.

Dr. Daniel Besser, PhD; Managing Director, German Stem Cell Network

Dr. Besser studies signal transduction mechanisms in pluripotency and reprogramming of human and mouse embryonic stem cells. At the German Stem Cell Network, he works on creating synergies between basic and applied stem cell research and fostering scientific communication and outreach.

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Guest:

Dr. Steve Szilvassy is the Senior Director, Head of Hematopoietic Products at STEMCELL Technologies. He has over 25 years of experience in the fields of hematology and oncology, having held a variety of research positions, including research scientist and project team leader, in both academia and industry.

Featured Products and Resources:

Live Webinar: Optimized Workflows for High-Efficiency Genome Editing in Stem and Primary Cell Types

Jobs at STEMCELL Technologies

Resources and Links

Blastocyst-Like Structures from Mouse Stem Cells - Researchers have generated 3D blastocyst-like structures from mouse PSCs that could be implanted into the uterus and grow before resorption.

Making Old Brain Stem Cells Young - Investigators have found that increasing brain stiffness during aging leads to the dysfunction of oligodendrocyte progenitor cells, but showed that the effects can be reversed.

Stem Cell Combination Repairs Damaged Hearts - Heart muscle cells and epicardial cells derived from human ESCs were co-transplanted into rats with damaged hearts, generating grafts that had greater cell growth and that lived longer.

Using CAR-T against HIV - Scientists have developed duoCAR-T cells that target multiple sites on the HIV envelope, and that were able to kill HIV cells while resisting infection themselves.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Stephen Szilvassy

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Guest:

Dr. Ubaka Ogbogu is an Associate Professor at the University of Alberta cross-appointed to the Faculties of Law and Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences. He is interested in the ethical, legal and societal implications of novel and emerging biomedical research and health care technologies.

Featured Products and Resources:

Jobs at STEMCELL Technologies

Mesenchymal Stromal Cell Updates and Debates

Resources and Links

Major 'Don't Eat Me' Signal Found in Cancer Cells - Researchers have identified a protein whose signaling enables cancer cells to evade detection by the immune system, making it a promising target for cancer immunotherapy.

Smooth Muscle Cells Change Identity to Protect against Atherosclerosis - Investigators have found that smooth muscle cells modulate their phenotype during atherosclerosis to protect the arterial walls.

Tracking Stem Cells in Skin - Scientists tracked stem cell division in the sebacious gland to understand the development and maintenance of the skin, and the effects of mutations on stem cell behavior.

Reversing Sickle Cell Disease with CRISPR- CRISPR was used to edit HSCs in nonhuman primates to reverse the clinical symptoms of certain blood disorders.

Modeling Monogenic Diabetes - The authors modeled monogenic diabetes using human ESCs to identify the role of the transcription factor that is mutated in the most common form of the disease.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Ubaka Ogbogu

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Guest:

Dr. Jennifer Adair is an Assistant Member in the Clinical Research Division at Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center. Her lab uses a combination of cell biology, molecular biology, chemistry, engineering, nanomedicine and bioinformatics to develop new gene therapy treatments for many different diseases, including cancer. Her goal is to develop safe, cost-effective and clinically relevant applications for gene therapy that can be implemented worldwide.

Featured Products and Resources:

Science in Seattle

StemSpan SFEM II

Resources and Links

Possible Drug Target for Heart Condition Identified - Researchers have found that a genetic mutation linked to dilated cardiomyopathy activates a signaling pathway that is normally turned off in healthy adult hearts.

Fibrosis Target Identified - Investigators have identified a protease that is activated by TGFβ that contributes to fibrosis development.

Improved Kidney Organoids - Scientists have developed a protocol for generating vascularized and functional human PSC-derived 3D kidney organoids, and used them to model disease.

New Tool for Immune Monitoring using Mass Cytometry - A mass cytometry workflow has been developed for identifying major immune cell lineages to improve biomarker discovery in immunotherapy trials.

Delayed Neurodevelopment in Zika-Exposed Children - In this prospective cohort study, the authors found that one third of children up to age three who were exposed to Zika in-utero had below-average neurological development.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Jennifer Adair

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