An Improved Protocol for Targeted Differentiation of Primed Human Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells into HLA-G-Expressing Trophoblasts to Enable the Modeling of Placenta-Related Disorders.

Abnormalities at any stage of trophoblast development may result in pregnancy-related complications. Many of these adverse outcomes are discovered later in pregnancy, but the underlying pathomechanisms are constituted during the first trimester. Acquiring developmentally relevant material to elucidate the disease mechanisms is difficult.

Generation of an induced pluripotent stem cell line, ZIPi021-A, from fibroblasts of a Prader-Willi syndrome patient with maternal uniparental disomy (mUPD).

Prader-Willi syndrome (PWS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by loss of paternal expression of imprinted genes on chromosome 15q11-q13. We established a human induced pluripotent stem cell line (hiPSC), ZIPi021-A, from fibroblasts of a 4-year-old female PWS patient with the subtype of maternal uniparental disomy (mUPD). The generated hiPSC line was transgene-free, expressed pluripotency markers and showed the ability to differentiate into all three germ layers in vitro.

Antioxidant and lipid supplementation improve the development of photoreceptor outer segments in pluripotent stem cell-derived retinal organoids.

The generation of retinal organoids from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) is now a well-established process that in part recapitulates retinal development. However, hPSC-derived photoreceptors that exhibit well-organized outer segment structures have yet to be observed. To facilitate improved inherited retinal disease modeling, we determined conditions that would support outer segment development in maturing hPSC-derived photoreceptors.

Recapitulation of Human Retinal Development from Human Pluripotent Stem Cells Generates Transplantable Populations of Cone Photoreceptors.

Transplantation of rod photoreceptors, derived either from neonatal retinae or pluripotent stem cells (PSCs), can restore rod-mediated visual function in murine models of inherited blindness. However, humans depend more upon cone photoreceptors that are required for daylight, color, and high-acuity vision. Indeed, macular retinopathies involving loss of cones are leading causes of blindness.