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Monitoring pluripotent stem cell behaviors (self-renewal and differentiation to specific lineages/phenotypes) is critical for a fundamental understanding of stem cell biology and their translational applications. In this study,a multi-modal stem cell monitoring system was developed to quantitatively characterize physico-electrochemical changes of the cells in real time,in relation to cellular activities during self-renewal or lineage-specific differentiation,in a non-destructive,label-free manner. The system was validated by measuring physical (mass) and electrochemical (impedance) changes in human induced pluripotent stem cells undergoing self-renewal,or subjected to mesendodermal or ectodermal differentiation,and correlating them to morphological (size,shape) and biochemical changes (gene/protein expression). An equivalent circuit model was used to further dissect the electrochemical (resistive and capacitive) contributions of distinctive cellular features. Overall,the combination of the physico-electrochemical measurements and electrical circuit modeling collectively offers a means to longitudinally quantify the states of stem cell self-renewal and differentiation. View Publication

Data suggest that clinical applications of human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) will be realized. Nonetheless,clinical applications will require hiPSCs that are free of exogenous DNA and that can be manufactured through Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP). Optimally,derivation of hiPSCs should be rapid and efficient in order to minimize manipulations,reduce potential for accumulation of mutations and minimize financial costs. Previous studies reported the use of modified synthetic mRNAs to reprogram fibroblasts to a pluripotent state. Here,we provide an optimized,fully chemically defined and feeder-free protocol for the derivation of hiPSCs using synthetic mRNAs. The protocol results in derivation of fully reprogrammed hiPSC lines from adult dermal fibroblasts in less than two weeks. The hiPSC lines were successfully tested for their identity,purity,stability and safety at a GMP facility and cryopreserved. To our knowledge,as a proof of principle,these are the first integration-free iPSCs lines that were reproducibly generated through synthetic mRNA reprogramming that could be putatively used for clinical purposes. View Publication

The process of X chromosome inactivation (XCI) during reprogramming to produce human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs),as well as during the extensive programming that occurs in human preimplantation development,is not well-understood. Indeed,studies of XCI during reprogramming to iPSCs report cells with two active X chromosomes and/or cells with one inactive X chromosome. Here,we examine expression of the long noncoding RNA,XIST,in single cells of human embryos through the oocyte-to-embryo transition and in new mRNA reprogrammed iPSCs. We show that XIST is first expressed beginning at the 4-cell stage,coincident with the onset of embryonic genome activation in an asynchronous manner. Additionally,we report that mRNA reprogramming produces iPSCs that initially express XIST transcript; however,expression is rapidly lost with culture. Loss of XIST and H3K27me3 enrichment at the inactive X chromosome at late passage results in X chromosome expression changes. Our data may contribute to applications in disease modeling and potential translational applications of female stem cells. View Publication

Pluripotent stem cell (PSC) usage in heart regenerative medicine requires producing enriched cardiomyocytes (CMs) with mature phenotypes in a defined medium. However,current methods are typically performed in 2D environments that produce immature CMs. Here we report a simple,growth factor-free 3D culture system to rapidly and efficiently generate 85.07 ± 1.8% of spontaneously contractile cardiac spheres (scCDSs) using 3D-cultured human and monkey PSC-spheres. Along with small molecule-based 3D induction,this protocol produces CDSs of up to 95.7% CMs at a yield of up to 237 CMs for every input pluripotent cell,is effective for human and monkey PSCs,and maintains 81.03 ± 12.43% of CDSs in spontaneous contractibility for over three months. These CDSs displayed CM ultrastructure,calcium transient,appropriate pharmacological responses and CM gene expression profiles specific for maturity. Furthermore,3D-derived CMs displayed more mature phenotypes than those from a parallel 2D-culture. The system is compatible to large-scaly produce CMs for disease study,cell therapy and pharmaceutics screening. View Publication

Mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) are multipotent cells with great potential in therapy,reflected by more than 500 MSC-based clinical trials registered with the NIH. MSC are derived from multiple tissues but require invasive harvesting and imply donor-to-donor variability. Embryonic stem cell-derived MSC (ESC-MSC) may provide an alternative,but how similar they are to ex vivo MSC is unknown. Here we performed an in depth characterization of human ESC-MSC,comparing them to human bone marrow-derived MSC (BM-MSC) as well as human embryonic stem cells (hESC) by transcriptomics (RNA-seq) and quantitative proteomics (nanoLC-MS/MS using SILAC). Data integration highlighted and validated a central role of vesicle-mediated transport and exosomes in MSC biology and also demonstrated,through enrichment analysis,their versatility and broad application potential. Particular emphasis was placed on comparing profiles between ESC-MSC and BM-MSC and assessing their equivalency. Data presented here shows that differences between ESC-MSC and BM-MSC are similar in magnitude to those reported for MSC of different origin and the former may thus represent an alternative source for therapeutic applications. Finally,we report an unprecedented coverage of MSC CD markers,as well as membrane associated proteins which may benefit immunofluorescence-based applications and contribute to a refined molecular description of MSC. View Publication

The use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) as a source of cells for cell-based therapy in regenerative medicine is hampered by the limited efficiency and safety of the reprogramming procedure and the low efficiency of iPSC differentiation to specialized cell types. Evidence suggests that iPSCs retain an epigenetic memory of their parental cells with a possible influence on their differentiation capacity in vitro. We reprogramme three cell types,namely human umbilical cord vein endothelial cells (HUVECs),endothelial progenitor cells (EPCs) and human dermal fibroblasts (HDFs),to iPSCs and compare their hematoendothelial differentiation capacity. HUVECs and EPCs were at least two-fold more efficient in iPSC reprogramming than HDFs. Both HUVEC- and EPC-derived iPSCs exhibited high potentiality toward endothelial cell differentiation compared with HDF-derived iPSCs. However,only HUVEC-derived iPSCs showed efficient differentiation to hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells. Examination of DNA methylation at promoters of hematopoietic and endothelial genes revealed evidence for the existence of epigenetic memory at the endothelial genes but not the hematopoietic genes in iPSCs derived from HUVECs and EPCs indicating that epigenetic memory involves an endothelial differentiation bias. Our findings suggest that endothelial cells and EPCs are better sources for iPSC derivation regarding their reprogramming efficiency and that the somatic cell type used for iPSC generation toward specific cell lineage differentiation is of importance. View Publication

Coronary arteriogenesis is a central step in cardiogenesis,requiring coordinated generation and integration of endothelial cell and vascular smooth muscle cells. At present,it is unclear whether the cell fate programme of cardiac progenitors to generate complex muscular or vascular structures is entirely cell autonomous. Here we demonstrate the intrinsic ability of vascular progenitors to develop and self-organize into cardiac tissues by clonally isolating and expanding second heart field cardiovascular progenitors using WNT3A and endothelin-1 (EDN1) human recombinant proteins. Progenitor clones undergo long-term expansion and differentiate primarily into endothelial and smooth muscle cell lineages in vitro,and contribute extensively to coronary-like vessels in vivo,forming a functional human-mouse chimeric circulatory system. Our study identifies EDN1 as a key factor towards the generation and clonal derivation of ISL1(+) vascular intermediates,and demonstrates the intrinsic cell-autonomous nature of these progenitors to differentiate and self-organize into functional vasculatures in vivo. View Publication

The efficacy of cardiac repair by stem cell administration relies on a successful functional integration of injected cells into the host myocardium. Safety concerns have been raised about the possibility that stem cells may induce foci of arrhythmia in the ischemic myocardium. In a previous work (36),we showed that human cord blood CD34(+) cells,when cocultured on neonatal mouse cardiomyocytes,exhibit excitation-contraction coupling features similar to those of cardiomyocytes,even though no human genes were upregulated. The aims of the present work are to investigate whether human CD34(+) cells,isolated after 1 wk of coculture with neonatal ventricular myocytes,possess molecular and functional properties of cardiomyocytes and to discriminate,using a reporter gene system,whether cardiac differentiation derives from a (trans)differentiation or a cell fusion process. Umbilical cord blood CD34(+) cells were isolated by a magnetic cell sorting method,transduced with a lentiviral vector carrying the enhanced green fluorescent protein (EGFP) gene,and seeded onto primary cultures of spontaneously beating rat neonatal cardiomyocytes. Cocultured EGFP(+)/CD34(+)-derived cells were analyzed for their electrophysiological features at different time points. After 1 wk in coculture,EGFP(+) cells,in contact with cardiomyocytes,were spontaneously contracting and had a maximum diastolic potential (MDP) of -53.1 mV,while those that remained isolated from the surrounding myocytes did not contract and had a depolarized resting potential of -11.4 mV. Cells were then resuspended and cultured at low density to identify EGFP(+) progenitor cell derivatives. Under these conditions,we observed single EGFP(+) beating cells that had acquired an hyperpolarization-activated current typical of neonatal cardiomyocytes (EGFP(+) cells,-2.24 ± 0.89 pA/pF; myocytes,-1.99 ± 0.63 pA/pF,at -125 mV). To discriminate between cell autonomous differentiation and fusion,EGFP(+)/CD34(+) cells were cocultured with cardiac myocytes infected with a red fluorescence protein-lentiviral vector; under these conditions we found that 100% of EGFP(+) cells were also red fluorescent protein positive,suggesting cell fusion as the mechanism by which cardiac functional features are acquired. View Publication

Genetic Parkinson disease (PD) has been associated with mutations in PINK1,a gene encoding a mitochondrial kinase implicated in the regulation of mitochondrial degradation. While the studies so far examined PINK1 function in non-neuronal systems or through PINK1 knockdown approaches,there is an imperative to examine the role of endogenous PINK1 in appropriate human-derived and biologically relevant cell models. Here we report the generation of induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells from skin fibroblasts taken from three PD patients with nonsense (c.1366CtextgreaterT; p.Q456X) or missense (c.509TtextgreaterG; p.V170G) mutations in the PINK1 gene. These cells were differentiated into dopaminergic neurons that upon mitochondrial depolarization showed impaired recruitment of lentivirally expressed Parkin to mitochondria,increased mitochondrial copy number,and upregulation of PGC-1α,an important regulator of mitochondrial biogenesis. Importantly,these alterations were corrected by lentiviral expression of wild-type PINK1 in mutant iPS cell-derived PINK1 neurons. In conclusion,our studies suggest that fibroblasts from genetic PD can be reprogrammed and differentiated into neurons. These neurons exhibit distinct phenotypes that should be amenable to further mechanistic studies in this relevant biological context. View Publication

Developing an efficient culture system for controlled human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) differentiation into selected lineages is a major challenge in realizing stem cell-based clinical applications. Here,we report the use of chitin-alginate 3D microfibrous scaffolds,previously developed for hPSC propagation,to support efficient neuronal differentiation and maturation under chemically defined culture conditions. When treated with neural induction medium containing Noggin/retinoic acid,the encapsulated cells expressed much higher levels of neural progenitor markers SOX1 and PAX6 than those in other treatment conditions. Immunocytochemisty analysis confirmed that the majority of the differentiated cells were nestin-positive cells. Subsequently transferring the scaffolds to neuronal differentiation medium efficiently directed these encapsulated neural progenitors into mature neurons,as detected by RT-PCR and positive immunostaining for neuron markers βIII tubulin and MAP2. Furthermore,flow cytometry confirmed that textgreater90% βIII tubulin-positive neurons was achieved for three independent iPSC and hESC lines,a differentiation efficiency much higher than previously reported. Implantation of these terminally differentiated neurons into SCID mice yielded successful neural grafts comprising MAP2 positive neurons,without tumorigenesis,suggesting a potential safe cell source for regenerative medicine. These results bring us one step closer toward realizing large-scale production of stem cell derivatives for clinical and translational applications. View Publication

Magnesium alloys have attracted great interest for medical applications due to their unique biodegradable capability and desirable mechanical properties. When designed for medical applications,these alloys must have suitable degradation properties,i.e.,their degradation rate should not exceed the rate at which the degradation products can be excreted from the body. Cellular responses and tissue integration around the Mg-based implants are critical for clinical success. Four magnesium–zinc–strontium (ZSr41) alloys were developed in this study. The degradation properties of the ZSr41 alloys and their cytocompatibility were studied using an in vitro human embryonic stem cell (hESC) model due to the greater sensitivity of hESCs to known toxicants which allows to potentially detect toxicological effects of new biomaterials at an early stage. Four distinct ZSr41 alloys with 4 wt% zinc and a series of strontium compositions (0.15,0.5,1,and 1.5 wt% Sr) were produced through metallurgical processing. Their degradation was characterized by measuring total mass loss of samples and pH change in the cell culture media. The concentration of Mg ions released from ZSr41 alloy into the cell culture media was analyzed using inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy. Surface microstructure and composition before and after culturing with hESCs were characterized using field emission scanning electron microscopy and energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy. Pure Mg was used as a control during cell culture studies. Results indicated that the Mg–Zn–Sr alloy with 0.15 wt% Sr provided slower degradation and improved cytocompatibility as compared with pure Mg control. View Publication

Organs-on-chips are microengineered in vitro tissue structures that can be used as platforms for physiological and pathological research. They provide tissue-like microenvironments in which different cell types can be co-cultured in a controlled manner to create synthetic organ mimics. Blood vessels are an integral part of all tissues in the human body. Development of vascular structures is therefore an important research topic for advancing the field of organs-on-chips since generated tissues will require a blood or nutrient supply. Here,we have engineered three-dimensional constructs of vascular tissue inside microchannels by injecting a mixture of human umbilical vein endothelial cells,human embryonic stem cell-derived pericytes (the precursors of vascular smooth muscle cells) and rat tail collagen I into a polydimethylsiloxane microfluidic channel with dimensions 500 μm × 120 μm × 1 cm (w × h × l). Over the course of 12 h,the cells organized themselves into a single long tube resembling a blood vessel that followed the contours of the channel. Detailed examination of tube morphology by confocal microscopy revealed a mature endothelial monolayer with complete PECAM-1 staining at cell–cell contacts and pericytes incorporated inside the tubular structures. We also demonstrated that tube formation was disrupted in the presence of a neutralizing antibody against transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β). The TGF-β signaling pathway is essential for normal vascular development; deletion of any of its components in mouse development results in defective vasculogenesis and angiogenesis and mutations in humans have been linked to multiple vascular genetic diseases. In the engineered microvessels,inhibition of TGF-β signaling resulted in tubes with smaller diameters and higher tortuosity,highly reminiscent of the abnormal vessels observed in patients with one particular vascular disease known as hereditary hemorrhagic telangiectasia (HHT). In summary,we have developed microengineered three-dimensional vascular structures that can be used as a model to test the effects of drugs and study the interaction between different human vascular cell types. In the future,the model may be integrated into larger tissue constructs to advance the development of organs-on-chips. View Publication