abstract: Several debilitating neurological disorders, such as Alzheimer's disease, stroke, and spinal cord injury, are characterized by the damage or loss of neuronal cell types in the central nervous system (CNS). Human neural progenitor cells (hNPCs) derived from human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) can proliferate extensively and differentiate into the various neuronal subtypes and supporting cells that comprise the CNS. As such, hNPCs have tremendous potential for disease modeling, drug screening, and regenerative medicine applications. However, the use hNPCs for the study and treatment of neurological diseases requires the development of defined, robust, and scalable methods for their expansion and neuronal differentiation. To that end a rational design process was used to develop a vitronectin-derived peptide (VDP)-based substrate to support the growth and neuronal differentiation of hNPCs in conventional two-dimensional (2-D) culture and large-scale microcarrier (MC)-based suspension culture. Compared to hNPCs cultured on ECMP-based substrates, hNPCs grown on VDP-coated surfaces displayed similar morphologies, growth rates, and high expression levels of hNPC multipotency markers. Furthermore, VDP surfaces supported the directed differentiation of hNPCs to neurons at similar levels to cells differentiated on ECMP substrates. Here it has been demonstrated that VDP is a robust growth and differentiation matrix, as demonstrated by its ability to support the expansions and neuronal differentiation of hNPCs derived from three hESC (H9, HUES9, and HSF4) and one hiPSC (RiPSC) cell lines. Finally, it has been shown that VDP allows for the expansion or neuronal differentiation of hNPCs to quantities (>1010) necessary for drug screening or regenerative medicine purposes. In the future, the use of VDP as a defined culture substrate will significantly advance the clinical application of hNPCs and their derivatives as it will enable the large-scale expansion and neuronal differentiation of hNPCs in quantities necessary for disease modeling, drug screening, and regenerative medicine applications. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Bioengineering 2016

abstract: Neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease and Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis are marked by the loss of different types of neurons and glial cells in the central nervous system (CNS). Human Pluripotent Stem Cell (hPSC)-derived Neural Progenitor Cells (hNPCs) have the ability to self-renew indefinitely and to differentiate into various cell types of the CNS. HNPCs can be used in cell based therapies and have the potential to reverse or arrest neurodegeneration and to replace lost neurons and glial cells. However, the lack of completely defined, scalable systems to culture these cells, limits their therapeutic and clinical applications. In a previous study, a completely defined, robust, synthetic peptide- a Vitronectin Derived Peptide (VDP) that supports the long term expansion and differentiation of various embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cell (hESC/hIPSC) derived hNPC lines on two dimensional (2D) tissue culture plates was identified. In this study, the culture of hNPCs was scaled up using VDP coated microcarriers (MC). VDP MC were able to support the long term expansion of hESC and hiPSC derived hNPCs over multiple passages and supported higher fold changes in cell densities, compared to VDP coated 2D surfaces. VDP MC also showed the ability to support the neuronal differentiation of hNPCs, and produced mature neurons expressing several neuronal, neurotransmitter and cortical markers. Additionally, alzheimer’s disease (AD) relevant phenotypes were studied in patient hIPSC derived hNPCs cultured on laminin MC to assess if the MC culture system could be used for disease modelling and drug screening. Finally, a microcarrier based bioreactor system was developed for the large scale expansion of hNPCs, exhibiting more than a five-fold change in cell density and supporting more than 100 million hNPCs in culture. Thus, the development of a xeno-free, scalable system allows hNPC culture under standard and reproducible conditions in quantities required for therapeutic and clinical applications. / Dissertation/Thesis / Masters Thesis Bioengineering 2017

No description available.

京都大学 / 0048 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第21452号 / 医博第4419号 / 新制||医||1032(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 長船 健二, 教授 髙橋 良輔, 教授 伊佐 正 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

No description available.

京都大学 / 新制・課程博士 / 博士(医学) / 甲第23812号 / 医博第4858号 / 新制||医||1059(附属図書館) / 京都大学大学院医学研究科医学専攻 / (主査)教授 金子 新, 教授 山下 潤, 教授 朝長 啓造 / 学位規則第4条第1項該当 / Doctor of Medical Science / Kyoto University / DFAM

<p>The generation of hematopoietic progenitors from human pluripotent cell sources for use in personalized medicine is an attainable goal for the ease of clinical intervention using these cells. Furthermore, generated platelets and mature red blood cells are enucleated which allows for the use of induced pluripotent stem cells as a starting source or other sources of genetic manipulation. Generating these cells has proven difficult as the cells appear to be stuck in a primitive state of differentiation and do not mature into an adult phenotype. This thesis shows that inhibition of the hedgehog signaling pathway early in the differentiation of pluripotent stem cells induces a maturation towards definitive hematopoiesis. Generated erythroid cells were shown to express beta globin at the transcript as well as protein level. This maturation effect was confirmed to occur through central hedgehog repressor, Gli3R, through genetic manipulation. Further interrogation of this mechanism showed that globin regulation was not mediated by chromatin methylation by the polycomb repressive complex. Finally, Gli3R was also shown to not act as a transcription factor influencing globin expression directly and is therefore engaging separate regulatory mechanisms. This data provides great strides towards the generation of clinically relevant hematopoietic populations from pluripotent sources, however Gli3R’s direct mechanism of action remains to be determined.</p> / Master of Science (MSc)

Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) have the ability to self-renew and differentiate into all specialized body cells, providing material suitable for studying basic biology, modeling disease, and for regenerative medicine. The differentiation of hPSCs into functional cell types has been further enhanced by the production of organoids, miniature 3D organ-like structures that mimic the architecture and function of their in vivo counterparts, representing more physiologically relevant models of native tissues than monolayer cultures. Our initial aim was to differentiate hPSCs into lung epithelial organoids in vitro, and we hypothesized that applying knowledge of signaling cues during embryonic development to the dish would produce lineage-specific tissue. Using a multi-stage differentiation strategy, we derived organoids sharing properties with the developing lung as well as intestine. From this work, we learned the importance of purification, selection, and using singularized precursor cells to produce populations of bona fide lineage-restricted organoids. Upon developing a type of intestinal organoid technology from hPSCs not reported before, we shifted our focus to the intestine. We generated cystic intestinal epithelial organoids called enterospheres (hEnS) in vitro from hPSCs, which mimic structural and cell type properties of the native small intestinal epithelium. hEnS growth, differentiation, and long-term culture can be controlled by modulating media conditions. Importantly, hEnS are functional in that they elicit an innate immune response upon treatment with enteric pathogens. We established hEnS as an attractive in vitro model system for studying human gastrointestinal biology. We then developed an automated hEnS imaging assay to measure responses to growth factors, bacterial products, and enteric bacteria themselves. In doing so, we demonstrated the utility of hEnS as a germ-free system for studying host-microbe interactions and intestinal maturation. Finally, we investigated the expression of protein markers of intestinal maturation in tissue sections of primary human intestine spanning gestation, and made observations that are different from those reported in mice. Overall, our work provides new and important insights into hPSC differentiation, organoid technologies, and intestinal development in humans. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)

No description available.

Les cellules souches pluripotentes humaines (hPSC) sont des cellules capables à la fois d'autorenouvellement et de se différencier en tous les types cellulaires. Elles peuvent être issues de l'embryon (pour cellules souches embryonnaires humaines, hESC) ou être obtenues par reprogrammation d'une cellule différenciée (pour cellules souches pluripotentes induites humaines, hiPSC). Les hPSC sont au centre d'enjeux scientifiques, médicaux et économiques majeurs, en particulier dans le cadre des maladies génétiques et orphelines. En effet, elles ouvrent la porte à de nouvelles stratégies de modélisation de maladies génétiques humaines in vitro et sont une source potentiellement illimitée de cellules pour une thérapie cellulaire des maladies dégénératives. Cependant, la culture in vitro de hPSC est une étape essentielle avant toute application clinique ou recherche fondamentale. En effet, la culture cellulaire est nécessaire pour l'amplification du nombre des cellules, et est nécessaire pour toute étape de différenciation in vitro. Or c'est une étape délicate pour le succès des applications visées. Mon travail de doctorat s'est focalisé sur deux aspects de la culture des hPSC. Dans un premier temps, j'ai modélisé in vitro une voie de différenciation, le développement trophoblastique humain, en modulant les paramètres de la condition de culture, notamment en jouant sur la concentration du facteur de croissance BMP4. Ce travail m'a permis d'élucider la toute première bifurcation de différenciation cellulaire au cours du développement embryonnaire humain précoce. Dans un second temps, mon travail s'est focalisé sur le changement phénotypique et génomique des hPSC au cours de la culture in vitro. J'ai montré que l'utilisation de certains protocoles de passage cellulaire – en particulier le passage par dissociation cellulaire complète par utilisation de trypsine - se traduit par des acquisitions très précoces d'anomalies génétiques chromosomiques et sub-chromosomiques, et que des anomalies sub-chromosomiques pouvaient précéder l'apparition d'anomalies chromosomiques. Les conséquences de ces observations sont importante pour la recherche de la culture de hPSC : (1) il faut définitivement renoncer à l'utilisation des passages par dissociation cellulaire complète, y compris pour les méthodes de culture en suspension, et (2) il faut, pour valider une technique de culture, compléter systématiquement le caryotype par un examen d'analyse génétique avec une meilleure résolution. / Human pluripotent stem cells (hPSC) are the stem cells capable to self-renew and also to differentiate into all the cell types. These cells can be derived from embryos (for human embryonic stem cells, hESC) but also be obtained by reprogramming the differentiated somatic cells (for human induced pluripotent cells, hiPSC). The hPSC become central stakes of science, medicine and economy, particularly for genetic and rare diseases. In fact, they open up the new perspectives to the novel treatment strategies by remodeling human genetic diseases in vitro and at the same time they are a potentially unlimited cell source for cell therapy for especially degenerative diseases. Meanwhile, the hPSC in vitro culture is one of the most important steps before passing to the clinic applications and in fundamental research, as the proliferation and pluripotency can only be maintained in culture condition as well as many differentiation methods. My PhD work was concentrated on the hPSC in vitro culture. At first, I modeled human trophoblastic development and its differentiation pathway in vitro by modulating the parameters of culture, especially the concentration of BMP4. This work permitted clarifying the first cell lineage bifurcation in early human embryonic development. Secondly, my word was focalized on the phenotypic and genomic changes of hPSC during the in vitro culture. I demonstrated that the use of some passaging protocols in culture, particularly complete cell dissociation by trypsin, was translated by very early acquisitions of chromosomal and sub-chromosomal abnormalities, and that the appearance of sub-chromosomal abnormalities could precede chromosomal abnormalities. The consequences of these observations are important for the hPSC culture research: (1) the use of complete cell-dissociation passaging should be definitively abandoned, including the suspension culture, and (2) the genetic analyses with higher resolution should be added to validate a culture technic.