This book explores improved, extended, and fully updated protocols for embryonic stem cell (ESC) research in a variety of contexts.

In this issue of Cell Stem Cell, Efroni et al. (2008) use tiling microarrays to reveal genome-wide hypertranscription in mouse embryonic stem cells (ESCs), including expression of normally silent, noncoding regions. Hypertranscription may reflect the unusual "open" structure of ESC chromatin.

: Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) is a potentially curative therapy for many malignant and nonmalignant diseases. However, chronic graft-versus-host disease (cGVHD) remains a significant cause of late morbidity and mortality after allogeneic HSCT. cGVHD often manifests as autoimmune syndrome. Thymic epithelial cells (TECs) play a critical role in supporting negative se...

Microvesicles are plasma membrane-derived vesicles released into the extracellular environment by a variety of cell types. Originally characterized from platelets, microvesicles are a normal constituent of human plasma, where they play an important role in maintaining hematostasis. Microvesicles have been shown to transfer proteins and RNA from cell to cell and they are also believed to play a ...

We demonstrate the first successful culture of human embryonic stem cells in microscale polydimethylsiloxane channels. The effects of two different feeder layers (irradiated mouse embryonic fibroblasts and a gel matrix (Matrigel, BD Biosciences)) on cell growth and morphology are investigated. Cell growth over a one-week period follows the normal pattern of attachment, colony expansion, and eve...

BACKGROUND Stage-specific embryonic antigen-1 (SSEA1) is a cell surface carbohydrate that its pattern expression is changed during induction of mouse embryonic stem cell differentiation. In this study, the spatial distribution of SSEA1 on primordial germ cells differentiation and subsequent progression into oocyte-like cells from mouse embryonic stem cells in vitro was evaluated. METHODS Embr...

introduction: multiple sclerosis (ms) is a chronic inflammatory demyelinating disease. in the present study, we investigated the response of subventricular zone (svz) adult stem cells in the experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (eae), an animal model of ms, and also the differentiation fate of these stem cells. methods: mice were immunized with mog peptide emulsified in complete freund&apo...

Background: We have recently shown that human embryonic (hESCs) and induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) can differentiate into advanced spermatogenic cells including round spermatids by in vitro culture (Easley et al., Direct differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells into haploid spermatogenic cells. Cell Reports 2, 440-446 2012) and also, in collaboration, that rhesus spermatogonial ...