Integrating deep learning and unbiased automated high-content screening to identify complex disease signatures in human fibroblasts.

Drug discovery for diseases such as Parkinson's disease are impeded by the lack of screenable cellular phenotypes. We present an unbiased phenotypic profiling platform that combines automated cell culture, high-content imaging, Cell Painting, and deep learning. We applied this platform to primary fibroblasts from 91 Parkinson's disease patients and matched healthy controls, creating the largest publicly available Cell Painting image dataset to date at 48 terabytes.

Hypothermic and cryogenic preservation of tissue-engineered human bone.

To foster translation and commercialization of tissue-engineered products, preservation methods that do not significantly compromise tissue properties need to be designed and tested. Robust preservation methods will enable the distribution of tissues to third parties for research or transplantation, as well as banking of off-the-shelf products. We recently engineered bone grafts from induced pluripotent stem cells and devised strategies to facilitate a tissue-engineering approach to segmental bone defect therapy.

GMP-compatible and xeno-free cultivation of mesenchymal progenitors derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells.

Background: Human mesenchymal stem cells are a strong candidate for cell therapies owing to their regenerative potential, paracrine regulatory effects, and immunomodulatory activity. Yet, their scarcity, limited expansion potential, and age-associated functional decline restrict the ability to consistently manufacture large numbers of safe and therapeutically effective mesenchymal stem cells for routine clinical applications. To overcome these limitations and advance stem cell treatments using mesenchymal stem cells, researchers have recently derived mesenchymal progenitors from human-induced pluripotent stem cells.

Biomimetic Crystallization of MnFeO Mediated by Peptide-Catalyzed Esterification at Low Temperature.

Enzymes are some of the most efficient catalysts in nature. If small catalytic peptides mimic enzymes, there is potential for broad applications from catalysis for new material synthesis to drug development, due to the ease of molecular design. Recently a hydrogel-based combinatory phage display library was developed and protease-mimicking peptides were identified.