Isolation of single circulating trophoblasts from maternal circulation for noninvasive fetal copy number variant profiling.

Objective: To develop a multi-step workflow for the isolation of circulating extravillous trophoblasts (cEVTs) by describing the key steps enabling a semi-automated process, including a proprietary algorithm for fetal cell origin genetic confirmation and copy number variant (CNV) detection.

Methods: Determination of the limit of detection (LoD) for submicroscopic CNV was performed by serial experiments with genomic DNA and single cells from Coriell cell line biobank with known imbalances of different sizes. A pregnancy population of 372 women was prospectively enrolled and blindly analyzed to evaluate the current workflow.

Performance of conventional cytogenetic analysis on chorionic villi when only one cell layer, cytotrophoblast or mesenchyme alone, is analyzed.

Objective: To provide an estimation of the probability of error when chorionic villi (CV) cytogenetic analysis is limited to a single placental layer; either a direct preparation (Dir) or long-term culture (LTC).

Methods: We retrospectively reviewed cytogenetic studies on 81,593 consecutive CV samples in which both Dir and LTC were analyzed. All mosaic cases received amniocentesis.

Internalization of nanopolymeric tracers does not alter characteristics of placental cells.

In the cell therapy scenario, efficient tracing of transplanted cells is essential for investigating cell migration and interactions with host tissues. This is fundamental to provide mechanistic insights which altogether allow for the understanding of the translational potential of placental cell therapy in the clinical setting. Mesenchymal stem/stromal cells (MSC) from human placenta are increasingly being investigated for their potential in treating patients with a variety of diseases.

Recombinant renewable polyclonal antibodies.

Only a small fraction of the antibodies in a traditional polyclonal antibody mixture recognize the target of interest, frequently resulting in undesirable polyreactivity. Here, we show that high-quality recombinant polyclonals, in which hundreds of different antibodies are all directed toward a target of interest, can be easily generated in vitro by combining phage and yeast display. We show that, unlike traditional polyclonals, which are limited resources, recombinant polyclonal antibodies can be amplified over one hundred million-fold without losing representation or functionality.