Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) are transforming the study of biology and disease by enabling scientists to grow large amounts of specific cell types in the lab that were once difficult to obtain. Our guests today focus on improving the derivation and study of sensory neurons, which are sparse and diverse nerve cells near the spine that carry information like pain, touch, or position of the body to the brain. Damage to these neurons or sensory neuropathies, as can happen in diabetes or i...
Feb 10
34 min
Epigenetic regulation of gene expression is an important mechanism in development and disease. N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is one of the most prevalent epigenetic modifications for RNA and has been shown to play critical roles in processes such as embryo development, cancer, and stress responses. Our guests today investigate how m6A regulates X chromosome dosage compensation to ensure proper balance of gene expression from X chromosomes between sexes. X-chromosome dosage compensation is accompli...
Jan 22
43 min
The human intestinal epithelial barrier comprises diverse proliferative, secretory and absorptive cell types that facilitate nutrient digestion and absorption and protect against harmful environmental agents. The barrier and its function can vary between individuals due to genetic differences thus impact processes such as digestion, drug metabolism, and drug sensitivity. Our guests today investigated the effect of diverse culture conditions on the cell type composition, gene expression profil...
Nov 19, 2025
43 min
The blood-brain barrier (BBB), formed by brain endothelial cells, pericytes, and astrocytes, is organized into a neurovascular unit that regulates the exchange of proteins between blood circulation and brain parenchyma. Human stem-cell-based models using brain endothelial cells are a powerful tool to investigate how disease-related conditions might affect the blood-brain barrier integrity. However, the cell type composition is critical to faithfully model transcytosis across the blood-brain b...
Oct 23, 2025
29 min
Hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) normally reside in the bone marrow niche but can traffic across the bone marrow endothelium into the bloodstream to populate different niches. This process of HSC mobilization from the bone marrow to the blood, is an increasingly favored procedure to obtain HSCs for hematopoietic cell transplantation therapy. Though mobilization is robust in many donors due to years of refined protocols and drug combinations, the process remains difficult or contraindicated amo...
Sep 22, 2025
33 min
The role of neuronal influences on cancer pathogenesis and progression is increasingly appreciated in the nervous system. Neurons have been shown to enhance the proliferation and migration of gliomas, a glial-derived tumor of the CNS, via diffusible paracrine factors or synaptic inputs onto tumor cells. In glioblastomas, a highly aggressive glioma, mostly glutamatergic inputs have been identified. While the potential for glioblastomas to receive projections from neurons of other neurotransmit...
Aug 12, 2025
45 min
Skeletal muscle is one of the most abundant tissues in the human body, representing approximately 40% of body weight. Under certain circumstances, skeletal muscle can be regenerated through satellite cells, a reservoir of quiescent muscle stem cells, that can be activated with injury or in certain diseases and give rise to newly formed multi-nucleated myotubes and myofibers. However, the regenerative potential of muscle is diminished or is completely absent in the course of normal aging, cert...
Jul 8, 2025
39 min
The potential of pluripotent stem cells and the ability to scale and differentiate them to generate large numbers of enriched cell populations has created new opportunities and approaches to treat human disease. Preclinical proof-of-principle data demonstrates that stem cell-derived neural grafts can be used to reverse symptoms of multiple neurological conditions, including Parkinson’s Disease. Cell grafts enriched with dopaminergic neurons, can structurally and functionally integrate in the ...
May 13, 2025
38 min
Parent-specific epigenetic marks (imprints) leading to parent-specific gene expression are crucial for normal growth and development, yet their mechanisms of establishment and maintenance are not fully understood. In humans, approximately 200 imprinted genes have been discovered, and improper imprinting can manifest in growth restriction, obesity, intellectual disabilities, behavioral abnormalities, and an increased risk of certain cancers. While the use of pluripotent stem cells, especially ...
Apr 7, 2025
54 min
The mature lung in both humans and mice is highly vascularized, with approximately 30% of all cells being endothelial cells (ECs). The blood vessels have a physiological role in gas exchange within the tissue, but the vascular cells have additional role(s) beyond supplying oxygen and nutrients to the tissue. For example, the adult lung endothelium responds to injury by activating pathways for alveolar re epithelialization and during embryonic development, disrupting vascularization ex v...
Mar 20, 2025
43 min
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