Pluripotent stem cell-derived committed cardiac progenitors remuscularize damaged ischemic hearts and improve their function in pigs.

Ischemic heart disease, which is often associated with irreversibly damaged heart muscle, is a major global health burden. Here, we report the potential of stem cell-derived committed cardiac progenitors (CCPs) have in regenerative cardiology. Human pluripotent embryonic stem cells were differentiated to CCPs on a laminin 521 + 221 matrix, characterized with bulk and single-cell RNA sequencing, and transplanted into infarcted pig hearts.

Photoreceptor laminin drives differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells to photoreceptor progenitors that partially restore retina function.

Blindness caused by advanced stages of inherited retinal diseases and age-related macular degeneration are characterized by photoreceptor loss. Cell therapy involving replacement with functional photoreceptor-like cells generated from human pluripotent stem cells holds great promise. Here, we generated a human recombinant retina-specific laminin isoform, LN523, and demonstrated the role in promoting the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into photoreceptor progenitors.

Biologically relevant laminin as chemically defined and fully human platform for human epidermal keratinocyte culture.

The current expansion of autologous human keratinocytes to resurface severe wound defects still relies on murine feeder layer and calf serum in the cell culture system. Through our characterization efforts of the human skin basement membrane and murine feeder layer 3T3-J2, we identified two biologically relevant recombinant laminins-LN-511 and LN-421- as potential candidates to replace the murine feeder. Herein, we report a completely xeno-free and defined culture system utilizing these laminins which enables robust expansion of adult human skin keratinocytes.

Dissecting genetic requirements of human breast tumorigenesis in a tissue transgenic model of human breast cancer in mice.

Breast cancer development is a complex pathobiological process involving sequential genetic alterations in normal epithelial cells that results in uncontrolled growth in a permissive microenvironment. Accordingly, physiologically relevant models of human breast cancer that recapitulate these events are needed to study cancer biology and evaluate therapeutic agents. Here, we report the generation and utilization of the human breast cancer in mouse (HIM) model, which is composed of genetically engineered primary human breast epithelial organoids and activated human breast stromal cells.