The Stem Cell Podcast

Guest:

Peter Lengyel is the co-founder and “Beer Commander” of Kings County Beer Collective in Brooklyn, NY. Pete managed big name laboratories at Rockefeller University, UCSF and Regeneron Pharmaceuticals but after spending a huge amount of his time brewing beer first as a hobbyist, he made the leap to brewing full time. Pete started his first professional brewing enterprise in Bushwick Brooklyn a couple years back as a collaboration with two other brewers, which they called the King County Brewer’s Collective, and they have taken the craft brew scene by storm with high praise in local and national critical circles.

Resources and Links

Artificial Intelligence Using Wiring Similar to Human Brain - An AI that mentally maps its environment, much like mammals do, could help solve a mystery about the navigational nerve cells in our brains.

Telomerase at High Resolution – The authors present the cryo-electron microscopy structure of the substrate-bound human telomerase holoenzyme at subnanometre resolution, showing two flexibly RNA-tethered lobes: the catalytic core with telomerase reverse transcriptase and conserved motifs of telomerase RNA, and an H/ACA ribonucleoprotein.

First Small Pox Treatment Close to FDA Approval - Fears that the disease could be used as a biological weapon have risen in light of anthrax attacks and other terrorist acts of this century.

Turtles That Change Sex in Warm Temperature - Scientists have identified a gene in the red-eared slider turtle, that makes embryonic turtles turn male or female depending on nest temperature.

Stem Cells and Organoids to Understand Neanderthal Brains -A team of geneticists from the Max Planck Institute in Germany genetically altered human stem cells by combining them with Neanderthal DNA. The team hoped to grow miniature brains from these engineered human stem cells.

Fasting Boosts Stem Cells’ Regenerative Capacity - Intestinal stem cells from mice that fasted for 24 hours, produced much more substantial intestinal organoids than stem cells from mice that did not fast.

Blastocyst-Like Structure Generated from Stem Cells - Trophoblast and embryonic stem cells cooperate in vitro to form structures that morphologically and transcriptionally resemble embryonic day 3.5 blastocysts, termed blastoids.

Reprogrammed Stem Cell-Derived Neurons Survive Long-Term in Pigs with Spinal Cord Injuries  - Scientists demonstrated that syngeneic porcine induced pluripotent stem cell-derived neural precursor cell transplantation to the spinal cord in the absence of immunosuppression is associated with long-term survival and neuronal and glial differentiation.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Peter Lengyel

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Guest:

Dr. Valeria Orlova is the Principal Investigator at the Leiden University Medical Center. Dr. Orlova’s lab uses stem cells to study the blood vessels and vasculature. She joins us to talk about her work and latest findings.

Featured Resource: STEMdiff™ Trilineage Differentiation Kit - Functional Assay Kit to Assess Pluripotency by Directed Differentiation of Human ES and iPS Cells to All Three Germ Layers

Resources and Links

Plastic That Can Be Recycled Again and Again - The development of chemically recyclable polymers offers a solution to the end-of-use issue of polymeric materials and provides a closed-loop approach toward a circular materials economy.

Genetically Modified Plant as Malaria Drug - Derived from sweet wormwood plants, the antimalarial compound artemisinin usually composes 0.1 to 1 percent of the dry weight of the leaves. New research more than triples a plant’s yield of artemisinin, to 3.2 percent.

Hospital Surfaces that Kill Superbugs - A newly developed coating uses overhead light to trigger bacteria-killing molecules and could be used in hospitals to help stop the spread of some infections.

A Bird’s Internal Compass - During the long range migrations of European robins, production of the protein Cry4 increases and that may facilitate the birds’ sense of Earth’s magnetic field.

Inducible GDNF Expression in Transplanted Neural Cells - Glial cell line-derived neurotrophic factor (GDNF) has provided benefits to Parkinsonian patients and is being used in a clinical trial for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis.

Reciprocal Signaling between Glioblastoma Stem Cells and Differentiated Tumor Cells Promotes Malignant Progression – A recent study found that differentiated glioblastoma cells (DGCs) accelerated GSC tumor growth. DGCs preferentially expressed brain-derived neurotrophic factor (BDNF), whereas GSCs expressed the BDNF receptor NTRK2.

Super-Obese Patient-Derived iPSC Hypothalamic Neurons Exhibit Obesogenic Signatures and Hormone Responses - Researchers developed a method to reliably differentiate human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) into hypothalamic-like neurons (iHTNs) capable of secreting orexigenic and anorexigenic neuropeptides. Transcriptomic profiling revealed that, although iHTNs maintain a fetal identity, they respond appropriately to metabolic hormones ghrelin and leptin.

Defining Essential Genes for Human Pluripotent Stem Cells by CRISPR-Cas9 Screening in Haploid Cells - Scientists constructed an atlas of essential and growth-restricting genes in human pluripotent stem cells, revealing key aspects of cellular essentiality and providing a reference for future studies on human pluripotency.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Valeria Orlova

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Guest:

Evangelos Kiskinis, PhD is an Assistant Professor in Neurology at Northwestern University.  His lab focuses on addressing fundamental aspects of the biology of human neurons in the context of physiological conditions and in the context of diseases such as ALS.

Featured Resource: Madeline Lancaster on Brain Organoids: Modeling Human Brain Development in a Dish Webinar

Resources and Links

How Norovirus Invades - While investigating the cell tropism for murine norovirus, scientists discovered that a rare cell type, tuft cells, carrying the CD300lf receptor were the virus’s specific target.

Viruses that Clean Up Bacteria- Viruses can be engineered to carry magnetic nanoparticles and modified DNA, transforming them into nanobots that detect bacteria in water or food.

Cancers Should Be Treated by Type Not Location - Cancer should not be treated based on where it is first found in the body, but depending on the type of tumor, scientists have said.

California Ordered to Add Cancer Warning to Coffee, but the Science Doesn't Hold Up - Storm clouds are brewing in California’s coffee cups. Companies across the state will have to add a cancer-warning label to coffee, a judge ruled, because the drink contains a chemical called acrylamide.

Thrombopoietin is Required for Bone Marrow Stem Cell Maintenance- Investigators found that hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) were markedly reduced in hepatocyte-specific thrombopoietin-deficient mice. These results indicate that systemic factors, in addition to the local niche, are a critical extrinsic component for HSC maintenance.

Researchers Optimize Lung Stem Cell Engineering Process- The Center for Regenerative Medicine’s pioneering research using induced pluripotent stem cells, which self-renew indefinitely as undifferentiated cells that become specific adult cell types, has helped create an inexhaustible source of disease- or patient-specific stem cells.

An In Vivo Model of Functional and Vascularized Human Brain Organoids- Scientists developed more sophisticated organoid models to help provide new insights into a range of neurological and psychological disorders.

iPSCs from a Hibernator Provide a Platform for Studying Cold Adaptation - The authors showed that ground squirrel iPSCs offer a unique platform for bringing cold-adaptive strategies from hibernators to humans in clinical applications.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of  Evangelos Kiskinis

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Guest:

Dr. Janet Rossant is a Senior Scientist in the Developmental & Stem Cell Biology Program at The Hospital for Sick Children and is a Professor in both the Department of Molecular Genetics and the Department of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the University of Toronto. Her research interests center on understanding the genetic control of normal and abnormal development in the early mouse embryo using both cellular and genetic manipulation techniques. Her interests in the early embryo have led to the discovery of a novel placental stem cell type, the trophoblast stem cell. Rossant is also the Director of the newly formed Ontario Institute for Regenerative Medicine.

Featured Resource: STEMdiff™ Definitive Endoderm Kit: Defined Animal Component-Free Medium for the Differentiation of Human ES and iPS Cells to Definitive Endoderm

Resources and Links

Cancer Vaccine Eliminates Tumors in Mice- Injecting minute amounts of two immune-stimulating agents directly into solid tumors in mice can eliminate all traces of cancer in the animals, including distant, untreated metastases, according to a study by researchers at the Stanford University School of Medicine.

Tiny Stomach Found in Lung Tumors- Findings demonstrate that elements of pathologic tumor plasticity mirror the normal developmental history of organs in that cancer cells acquire cell fates associated with developmentally related neighboring organs.

Is the Interstitium a New Organ?- A study confirms that the spaces between cells are fluid-filled, rather than tightly packed with connective tissue, but pathologists say the implications of the findings remain to be seen.

Brain Organoids and Blood Vessels- Unpredictable variations and deficiencies have hampered the usefulness of organoids in research, but new techniques for creating mini-brains may change that.

RPE Cell Transplantation to Treat Macular Degeneration - Scientists demonstrated the feasibility and safety of human embryonic stem cell-derived retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) patch transplantation as a regenerative strategy for age-related macular degeneration.

Human Hippocampal Neurogenesis Persists throughout Aging - Researchers found that healthy older subjects without cognitive impairment, neuropsychiatric disease or treatment display preserved neurogenesis.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Janet Rossant

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Guest:

Dr. Nenad Bursac talks about a technology his group has developed and tested as a candidate therapy for myocardial infarction and heart failure. Dr. Nenad Bursac’s research interests include pluripotent stem cell therapies for heart and muscle disease, cardiac and skeletal muscle tissue engineering, cardiac electrophysiology and arrhythmias, genetic modifications of stem and somatic cells, micropatterning of proteins and hydrogels, and organ-on-chip technologies.

Featured Resource: Celebration of Science

Resources and Links

Congress Budget Good for Science - The American Association for the Advancement of Science currently estimates R&D spending in the FY 2018 omnibus at $176.8 billion, an increase of 12.8 percent or $20.1 billion above FY 2017 estimated R&D.

Male Birth Control Passes Safety Test - After decades of research, reproductive biologists are on the verge of developing new birth control options that stop sperm from maturing or save a woman's eggs for later.

How Bees Combat Pesticides - Honeybees and bumblebees can resist a type of neonicotinoid insecticide, thanks to a family of enzymes that metabolize toxic compounds.

Pacific Garbage Patch 16 Times Bigger Than Thought - It has been predicted that at least 79 (45–129) thousand tonnes of ocean plastic are floating inside an area of 1.6 million km2; a figure four to sixteen times higher than previously reported.

Game Changing Stem Cell Treatment for MS - Results from an international trial showed that a stem cell treatment involving wiping out a patient’s immune system using cancer drugs and then rebooting it with a stem cell transplant can stop multiple sclerosis (MS) and improve its symptoms.

Converting Blood Vessels to Blood Stem Cells - A switch has been discovered that instructs blood vessel cells to become blood stem cells during embryonic development in mice.

iPSC Based Vaccines Elicit Anti-Tumor Response - Cancer cells and embryonic tissues share a number of cellular and molecular properties, suggesting that induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) may be harnessed to elicit anti-tumor responses in cancer vaccines.

Pancreatic Tumor Organoids for Studying Disease Progression - A pancreatic tumor organoid library was established encompassing 39 patient-derived pancreatic ductal adenocarcinomas and identified three functional subtypes based on their stem cell niche factor dependencies on Wnt and R-spondin.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Nenad Bursac

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Guest:

Dr. William Dunworth is an Account Manager at STEMCELL Technologies and will be talking about his transition from bench to industry, and what advice he has to offer in terms of careers in stem cell science beyond the bench.

Featured Resource: Celebration of Science

Resources and Links

Study on Gun-Policy Effects Finds Important Gaps in Existing Research - One of the largest-ever studies of U.S. gun policy finds there is a shortage of evidence about the effects of most gun laws, although researchers from the RAND Corporation found there is some persuasive evidence about the effects of several common gun policies.

Penguin Supercolony Identified - Despite the concerted international effort to track and interpret shifts in the abundance and distribution of Adélie penguins, large populations continue to be identified.

Language Not Affected after Strokes in Newborns - Researchers from the Georgetown University Medical Center found that people who'd had a stroke as a newborn that damaged the left side of their brain -- the side that normally controls language -- used the other side of their brain for language.

Fake Organ that Mimics the Human Eye - Real human cells from a cornea and conjunctiva were used to build a blinking model of the surface of an artificial eye.

A Cheaper Way to Culture Human Pluripotent Stem Cells - Scientists at Japan's Kyoto University, with colleagues in India and Iran, have developed a more cost-effective culture by using a new combination of chemical compounds.

Genes for Age-Linked Brain Deterioration Identified - An improved understanding of the underlying mechanisms that drive age-associated neurogenic deficiency could lead to the development of strategies to alleviate cognitive impairment and facilitate neuroregeneration.

Dual Mechanism for Embryonic Stem Cells to Maintain Pluripotency - NCCS researchers have found two mechanisms that turn off the expression of endocytosis-associated genes, thus helping the stem cells to maintain their pluripotency.

Stem Cell Treatment to Reverse Early Menopause - Pioneering treatment that reverses the symptoms of early menopause has raised hopes that women affected could go on to have children naturally.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. William Dunworth

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Guest

Dr. Justin Ichida is the Assistant Professor in the Department of Stem Cell Biology and Regenerative Medicine at the University of Southern California.  Dr. Ichida’s laboratory creates in vitro models of human neurodegenerative diseases by converting patients’ cells into disease-affected neural cells.

Featured Resource: Madeline Lancaster on Brain Organoids: Modeling Human Brain Development in a Dish Webinar

Resources and Links

New Budget Not So Bad for Science - Following a new congressional deal that will boost federal spending by nearly half-a-trillion dollars this year and next, the administration rescinded many of the planned cuts and instead requested flat funding at major research agencies.

Household Products Significantly Contribute to Pollution - A detailed mass balance demonstrates that the use of volatile chemical products—including pesticides, coatings, printing inks, adhesives, cleaning agents, and personal care products—now constitutes half of fossil fuel volatile organic compound emissions in industrialized cities.

Hunting Threatens Endangered Orangutan - From 1999 to 2015, numbers of orangutans on the island of Borneo declined by nearly 150,000 individuals, a new study estimates.

Lowering an Enzyme Eliminates Brain Plaques - According to researchers, sequential and increased deletion of BACE1 in an adult Alzheimer's disease mouse model (5xFAD) was capable of completely reversing amyloid deposition resulting in significant improvement in gliosis and neuritic dystrophy.

Tribute to Stem Cell Scientist Ihor Lemischka - Ihor Lemischka, PhD, Professor at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai in New York, known for his great sense of humor and his pioneering work on embryonic and hematopoietic stem cells, died much too young from a stroke early in December 2017.

New Stem Cell Treatment for Stroke – Researchers have developed a new treatment called AB126 using extracellular vesicles for stroke that reduces brain damage and accelerates the brain's natural healing tendencies in animal models.

Stem Cells to Grow Mini Kidneys - One new study shows how human kidney tissue could be grown inside of a living organism, demonstrating the potential to one day save the lives of millions.

World’s First Human-Sheep Hybrid - A team of researchers at Stanford University successfully grew embryos inside a surrogate for three weeks which had both sheep and human cells.

Efficient Technique Discovered for Isolating Embryonic Stem Cells in Cows - Scientists at the University of California, Davis, were able to develop a new culture system that allows them to efficiently derive stem cells on almost every single attempt.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Justin Ichida

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Guest

Dr. Fernando Camargo is a Principal Investigator at Boston Children's Hospital and Professor in the Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology at Harvard University. Dr. Camargo’s laboratory’s ultimate goal is to understand the signals that regulate adult stem cell maturation and tissue regeneration and has a strong interest in studying the cellular and molecular biology of hematopoietic stem cells.

Featured Resource: Human Hematopoietic Stem and Progenitor Cell Phenotyping Wallchart

Resources and Links

A New Blood Test to Predict Alzheimer’s Disease - Accumulations of a sticky protein called amyloid-β can appear in the brain decades before a person develops Alzheimer’s disease.

Zika Is Not Alone in Its Effects on Fetal Damage - Many viruses, including some similar to Zika, can infect the placenta and the cells of the baby.

CRISPR to Treat Muscle Disorder - Genome editing with CRISPR/Cas9 is a promising new approach for correcting or mitigating disease-causing mutations like that of Duchenne muscular dystrophy.

Development of a New Influenza Vaccine - Researchers present a systematic approach for vaccine development that eliminates interferon–modulating functions genome-wide while maintaining virus replication fitness.

Researchers Create First Primate Clones - Scientists successfully cloned cynomolgus monkeys by somatic cell nuclear transfer.

Scientists Culture Human Placenta Stem Cells- Cells need certain proteins activated and others inhibited to stay alive and maintain the same characteristics they would have in utero.

Why Nerve Cells Die in ALS -  A mutation in a gene, called C9ORF72, leads to toxicity in nerve cells, causing 10 percent of all cases of ALS and an additional 10 percent of frontotemporal dementia.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Fernando Camargo

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Guest

Dr. Kapil Bharti is a Principal Investigator at the National Eye Institute at the NIH.  His work involves performing translational research on degenerative eye diseases using induced pluripotent stem cell technology. Dr. Bharti’s group uses this technology to develop in vitro disease models to study patient-specific disease processes, to set up high throughput drug screens, and to develop cell-based therapy for retinal degenerative diseases.

Featured Resource: Extracellular Matrix News

Resources and Links

Normal Childbirth May Take Longer Than Thought - A study in two African countries found a slower rate of dilation for many women who went on to have healthy, vaginal births.

Aging Is in the Blood - A protein located in the cells that forms a barrier between the brain and blood can prematurely age the brains of young mice.

There Are Different Types of Strep Infections - Extra genes picked up by some pathogens can cause different strains to have wildly different effects on the immune system, even in the same person.

Probing a 3D Brain – BrainFacts.org, which has long been sponsored by the Society of Neuroscience and other organizations, now has an interactive 3D brain that offers more information about the organ’s structures.

Epigenetic and Blood Stem Cell Differentiation –Investigators demonstrated that the epigenetic silencing factor Ezh1 limits multilineage differentiation potential of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells in mouse embryos and human pluripotent stem cell derivatives.

New Method for Expanding T-Cells – Researchers from Harvard University describe a system that mimics natural antigen-presenting cells and consists of a fluid lipid bilayer supported by mesoporous silica micro-rods.

CRISPR to Transiently Express Genes – Dr. Izpisua Belmonte and colleagues from Salk Institute report a robust system for in vivo activation of endogenous target genes through trans-epigenetic remodeling.

CRISPR Based Reprogramming to Pluripotency - Scientists show that reactivation of endogenous Oct4 or Sox2 using augmented forms of CRISPR/Cas9 is sufficient to reprogram mouse fibroblasts to pluripotency.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. Kapil Bharti

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Guest

Dr. April Pyle is an Associate Professor in the Department of Microbiology, Immunology and Molecular Genetics at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). She is also a member of the Eli and Edythe Broad Stem Cell Center, the Center for Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy and the Jonsson Comprehensive Cancer Center at UCLA. Dr. Pyle's lab uses multi-disciplinary approaches to study human pluripotent stem cell biology and differentiation of these cells for use in regenerative medicine.

Featured Resource: MyoCult™ Media to Expand, Maintain and Differentiate Skeletal Muscle Progenitor Cells (Myoblasts)

Resources and Links

Learning How to Tolerate the Cold from Squirrels – When Elena Gracheva, a neurophysiologist at Yale University School of Medicine, and her colleagues exposed hibernators like the thirteen-lined ground squirrel and the Syrian hamster to low temperatures in the lab, they saw very little activity in their TRPM8 pathway, an area of the central nervous system known to process information about cold.

Brain Organoids Wrinkle and Fold Like Real Brains Do - Researchers at the Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel from working with the lab-grown brains or organoids, discovered that cells inside the brains contract, while cells on the outside grow and push outward.

Not All Ribosomes Are Equal - Developmental biologist and geneticist Maria Barna of Stanford University School of Medicine and colleagues discovered that ribosomes actually come in many varieties, incorporating different proteins.

Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual High Schoolers Report ‘Tragically High’ Suicide Risk – A new study reports that high school students who identify as gay, lesbian or bisexual are more likely to report planning or attempting suicide compared with their heterosexual peers.

How Alcohol Damages Stem Cell DNA and Increases Cancer Risk - Scientists have shown how alcohol damages DNA in stem cells, helping to explain why drinking increases your risk of cancer.

Cellular Barcoding to Understand Behavior of Stem Cells - By tagging bone marrow cells of mice with a genetic label, or barcode, researchers were able to track and describe the family tree of individual blood cells as they form in their natural environment.

Circular RNAs and Pluripotency - Taiwanese scientists have discovered that circular RNA plays a key functional role in pluripotent stem cells, which may help the development of regenerative medicine or medical technologies.

NIH Discovery Brings Stem Cell Therapy for Eye Disease Closer to the Clinic - Scientists at the National Eye Institute, part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH), report that tiny tube-like protrusions called primary cilia on cells of the retinal pigment epithelium - a layer of cells in the back of the eye - are essential for the survival of the retina’s light-sensing photoreceptors.

Photo Reference: Courtesy of Dr. April Pyle

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