Astrocytic 4R tau expression drives astrocyte reactivity and dysfunction.

The protein tau and its isoforms are associated with several neurodegenerative diseases, many of which are characterized by greater deposition of the 4-repeat (4R) tau isoform; however, the role of 4R tau in disease pathogenesis remains unclear. We created antisense oligonucleotides (ASOs) that alter the ratio of 3R to 4R tau to investigate the role of specific tau isoforms in disease. Preferential expression of 4R tau in human tau-expressing (hTau-expressing) mice was previously shown to increase seizure severity and phosphorylated tau deposition without neuronal or synaptic loss.

Derivation of trophoblast stem cells from naïve human pluripotent stem cells.

Naïve human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provide a unique experimental platform of cell fate decisions during pre-implantation development, but their lineage potential remains incompletely characterized. As naïve hPSCs share transcriptional and epigenomic signatures with trophoblast cells, it has been proposed that the naïve state may have enhanced predisposition for differentiation along this extraembryonic lineage. Here we examined the trophoblast potential of isogenic naïve and primed hPSCs.