Pluripotency

SUBJECT 01

The transcription network of pluripotency

Cellular identity depends on gene regulatory networks governed by transcription factors. Discovering these for the pluripotent state is important for its applications.

Klf2 is an essential factor that sustains ground state pluripotency, Cell Stem Cell 2014
Biological networks governing the acquisition, maintenance, and dissolution of pluripotency: insights from functional genomics approaches, Cold Spring Harb Symp Quant Biol 2015
Driving pluripotency and reprogramming: nuclear receptors at the helm, Semin Cell Dev Biol 2013
Choreographing pluripotency and cell fate with transcription factors, Biochim Biophys Acta 2011
Looping around reprogramming: the topological memory of induced pluripotency, Cell Stem Cell 2016
FoxO: a new addition to the ESC cartel, Cell Stem Cell 2011

Diagram of the rudimentary transcription network of mouse embryonic stem cells.

Brightfield image of human embryonic stem cells cultured in a feeder-free naïve pluripotent state.

SUBJECT 02

Human naïve pluripotency

Human embryonic stem cells are traditionally cultured in the primed state, resembling the post-implantation epiblast. The development of methods to keep human pluripotent stem cells in the naïve state enabled access to an earlier stage of human development, equivalent to the pre-implantation inner cell mass.

A chemically defined feeder-free system for the establishment and maintenance of the human naïve pluripotent state, Stem Cell Reports 2019
- Patent pending: US20220325239A1
Induction of a human pluripotent state with distinct regulatory circuitry that resembles preimplantation epiblast, Cell Stem Cell 2013

SUBJECT 03

The cell cycle on the exit from pluripotency

The exit from pluripotency is a prerequisite to the many applications of human embryonic stem cells that require their differentiation. This process is tightly linked to the cell cycle, with the G1 phase permissive to the exit from pluripotency, and the S and G2 phases actively opposing it.

Deterministic restriction on pluripotent state dissolution by cell cycle pathways, Cell 2015
- Featured in: Cell cycle rules pluripotency, Cell Stem Cell 2015
Transcriptomic profiling of human embryonic stem cells upon cell cycle manipulation during pluripotent state dissolution, Genom Data 2015

Fluorescence image montage of human embryonic stem cells in various treatment conditions. The green fluorescent protein reporter is driven by the promoter of *NANOG*, a pluripotent gene. Nuclei are stained with Hoechst 33342 in blue.

Early liver organoid with hepatocytes fluorescently labelled by ALB immunostaining in red and cholangiocytes labelled by CK7 immunostaining in green.

SUBJECT 04

Stem cell-derived organoids

Organoids are self-organized three-dimensional cultures that replicate many complex aspects of an in vivo organ. As such, they serve as a unique in vitro platform for complex disease modeling and drug discovery.

Human pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids as models of liver disease, Gastroenterology 2020