4917results about "Embryonic cells" patented technology

Methods and materials for culturing primate-derived primordial stem cells are described. In one embodiment, a cell culture medium for growing primate-derived primordial stem cells in a substantially undifferentiated state is provided which includes a low osmotic pressure, low endotoxin basic medium that is effective to support the growth of primate-derived primordial stem cells. The basic medium is combined with a nutrient serum effective to support the growth of primate-derived primordial stem cells and a substrate selected from the group consisting of feeder cells and an extracellular matrix component derived from feeder cells. The medium further includes non-essential amino acids, an anti-oxidant, and a first growth factor selected from the group consisting of nucleosides and a pyruvate salt.

The present invention provides compositions and methods of using embryonic-like stem cells that originate from a post-partum placenta with conventional cord blood compositions or other stem or progenitor cells. The embryonic-like stem cells can be used alone or in a mixture with other stem cell populations. In accordance with the present invention, the embryonic-like stem cells may be mixed with other stem cell populations, including but not limited to, umbilical cord blood, fetal and neonatal hematopoietic stem cells and progenitor cells, human stem cells and progenitor cells derived from bone marrow. The embryonic-like stem cells and the mixed populations of embryonic-like stem cells and stem cells have a multitude of uses and applications, including but not limited to, therapeutic uses for transplantation and treatment and prevention of disease, and diagnostic and research uses.

The present invention relates to methods of modulating mammalian stem cell and progenitor cell differentiation. The methods of the invention can be employed to regulate and control the differentiation and maturation of mammalian, particularly human stem cells along specific cell and tissue lineages. The methods of the invention relate to the use of certain small organic molecules to modulate the differentiation of stem or progenitor cell populations along specific cell and tissue lineages, and in particular, to the differentiation of embryonic-like stem cells originating from a postpartum placenta or for the differentiation of early progenitor cells to a granulocytic lineage. Finally, the invention relates to the use of such differentiated stem or progenitor cells in transplantation and other medical treatments.

Stem cells, including mammalian, and particularly primate primordial stem cells (pPSCs) such as human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), hold great promise for restoring cell, tissue, and organ function. However, cultivation of stem cells, particularly undifferentiated hESCs, in serum-free, feeder-free, and conditioned-medium-free conditions remains crucial for large-scale, uniform production of pluripotent cells for cell-based therapies, as well as for controlling conditions for efficiently directing their lineage-specific differentiation. This instant invention is based on the discovery of the formulation of minimal essential components necessary for maintaining the long-term growth of pPSCs, particularly undifferentiated hESCs. Basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF), insulin, ascorbic acid, and laminin were identified to be both sufficient and necessary for maintaining hESCs in a healthy self-renewing undifferentiated state capable of both prolonged propagation and then directed differentiation. Having discerned these minimal molecular requirements, conditions that would permit the substitution of poorly-characterized and unspecified biological additives and substrates were derived and optimized with entirely defined constituents, providing a “biologics”-free (i.e., animal-, feeder-, serum-, and conditioned-medium-free) system for the efficient long-term cultivation of pPSCs, particularly pluripotent hESCs. Such culture systems allow the derivation and large-scale production of stem cells such as pPSCs, particularly pluripotent hESCs, in optimal yet well-defined biologics-free culture conditions from which they can be efficiently directed towards a lineage-specific differentiated fate in vitro, and thus are important, for instance, in connection with clinical applications based on stem cell therapy and in drug discovery processes.

Disclosed herein are methods, compositions, and kits for high efficiency, site-specific genomic editing of cells.

Previous methods for culturing human embryonic stem cells have required either fibroblast feeder cells or a medium which has been exposed to fibroblast feeder cells in order to maintain the stem cells in an undifferentiated state. It has now been found that if high levels of fibroblast growth factor are used in a medium with gamma amino butyric acid, pipecholic acid, lithium and lipids, the stem cells will remain undifferentiated indefinitely through multiple passages, even without feeder cells or conditioned medium. A humanized matrix of human proteins can be used as a basement matrix to culture the cells. New lines of human embryonic stem cells made using these culture conditions, the medium and the matrix, will never have been exposed to animal cells, animal products, feeder cells or conditioned medium.

Disclosed herein are methods of identifying one or more differentiation factors that are useful for differentiating cells in a cell population comprising definitive endoderm cells into cells which are capable of forming tissues and / or organs that are derived from the gut tube.