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Circ Res 2022 May 19:101161CIRCRESAHA121319300. Epub 2022 May 19.

Laboratory of Experimental Cardiology, Department of Cardiology, Leiden University Medical Center, the Netherlands. (P.R.R.v.G., J.Z., J.L., S.O.D., C.I.B., T.D.C., M.J.S., D.E.A., D.A.P., A.A.F.d.V.).

Background: Heart development relies on tight spatiotemporal control of cardiac gene expression. Genes involved in this intricate process have been identified using animals and pluripotent stem cell-based models of cardio(myo)genesis. Recently, the repertoire of cardiomyocyte differentiation models has been expanded with iAM-1, a monoclonal line of conditionally immortalized neonatal rat atrial myocytes (NRAMs), which allows toggling between proliferative and differentiated (ie, excitable and contractile) phenotypes in a synchronized and homogenous manner. Read More

GEN Biotechnol 2022 Apr 20;1(2):176-191. Epub 2022 Apr 20.

Wisconsin Institute for Discovery, University of Wisconsin-Madison, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Madison, Wisconsin, USA.

The process of reprogramming patient samples to human-induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) is stochastic, asynchronous, and inefficient, leading to a heterogeneous population of cells. In this study, we track the reprogramming status of patient-derived erythroid progenitor cells (EPCs) at the single-cell level during reprogramming with label-free live-cell imaging of cellular metabolism and nuclear morphometry to identify high-quality iPSCs. EPCs isolated from human peripheral blood of three donors were used for our proof-of-principle study. Read More

Cell Rep 2022 May;39(7):110818

Institute for Molecular Bioscience, University of Queensland, Brisbane, QLD, Australia. Electronic address:

Histone deacetylases (HDACs) are a class of enzymes that control chromatin state and influence cell fate. We evaluated the chromatin accessibility and transcriptome dynamics of zinc-containing HDACs during cell differentiation in vitro coupled with chemical perturbation to identify the role of HDACs in mesendoderm cell fate specification. Single-cell RNA sequencing analyses of HDAC expression during human pluripotent stem cell (hPSC) differentiation in vitro and mouse gastrulation in vivo reveal a unique association of HDAC1 and -3 with mesendoderm gene programs during exit from pluripotency. Read More

Cell Rep 2022 May;39(7):110827

Department of Neuroscience, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA; McPherson Eye Research Institute, University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI 53706, USA. Electronic address:

Photoreceptors (PRs) are the primary visual sensory cells, and their loss leads to blindness that is currently incurable. Although cell replacement therapy holds promise, success is hindered by our limited understanding of PR axon growth during development and regeneration. Here, we generate retinal organoids from human pluripotent stem cells to study the mechanisms of PR process extension. Read More

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A 2022 May 18;119(21):e2203928119. Epub 2022 May 18.

Department of Genetics, Harvard Medical School, Boston, MA 02115.

SignificanceThe genetic basis of isolated microtia, a congenital abnormality of the external ear, is poorly understood. Indigenous American (Amerindigenous) populations have the highest reported incidence of microtia. Here, we use whole genome sequencing to study microtia in Latin American families and identify a common microtia risk allele that is enriched among individuals with Amerindigenous ancestry. Read More