Published in Cell stem cell
Previous analysis of RNA sequencing (RNA-seq) data from human naive pluripotent stem cells reported multiple point "mutations" in cancer-related genes and implicated selective culture conditions. We observed, however, that those mutations were only present in co-cultures with mouse feeder cells. Inspection of reads containing the polymorphisms reve...
Published in Cell Stem Cell
Shi and colleagues used hiPSC-derived neurons, astrocytes, and brain organoids to model SARS-CoV-2 neurotropism. They found that ApoE4/4 genotype led to an increased rate of SARS-CoV-2 infection in both neurons and astrocytes, and ApoE4 astrocytes exhibited a more severe response. Moreover, remdesivir could inhibit SARS-CoV-2 infection in neurons a...
Published in Cell Stem Cell
To study infection response to SARS-CoV-2, Youk et al. developed a 3D culture model of human alveolar stem cells in chemically defined conditions. They reveal that SARS-CoV-2 productively infects alveolar type 2 cells, resulting in an innate immune response. Full infection of individual cells was exhibited from a single viral entry.
Published in Cell Stem Cell
Simoneau and Ott discuss various stem-cell-derived models used to elucidate susceptibility of different organ systems to SARS-CoV-2, exploring their permissiveness to viral infection, consequent innate immune responses, and the disruption of essential cellular functions.
Published in Cell stem cell
SARS-CoV-2 infection has led to a global health crisis, and yet our understanding of the disease and potential treatment options remains limited. The infection occurs through binding of the virus with angiotensin converting enzyme 2 (ACE2) on the cell membrane. Here, we established a screening strategy to identify drugs that reduce ACE2 levels in h...
Published in Cell Stem Cell
COVID-19 has unfortunately halted lab work, conferences, and in-person networking, which is especially detrimental to researchers just starting their labs. Through social media and our reviewer networks, we met some early-career stem cell investigators impacted by the closures. Here, they introduce themselves and their research to our readers.
Published in Cell Stem Cell
Increasing reports show neurological symptoms in COVID-19 patients, but it is still unclear whether SARS-CoV-2 can directly damage neurons. Lancaster and colleagues investigate viral neurotropism using brain organoids and discover that SARS-CoV-2 does not significantly infect neurons but productively infects choroid plexus, leading to damage of thi...
Published in Cell stem cell
Current smoking is associated with increased risk of severe COVID-19, but it is not clear how cigarette smoke (CS) exposure affects SARS-CoV-2 airway cell infection. We directly exposed air-liquid interface (ALI) cultures derived from primary human nonsmoker airway basal stem cells (ABSCs) to short term CS and then infected them with SARS-CoV-2. We...
Published in Cell Stem Cell
Crosse et al. combined spatial, population, and single-cell transcriptomics to interrogate signaling in the human hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) embryonic niche. They identified secreted proteins proximal to the site of HSC emergence, including endothelins, which, they demonstrated, can promote hematopoiesis in mouse and human.
Published in Cell Stem Cell
Non-coding mutations over a megabase from SOX9 cause the craniofacial disorder Pierre Robin sequence (PRS). Long et al. leverage a human neural crest model to demonstrate that PRS is caused by loss of extreme long-range enhancers active during a restricted developmental window and explore mechanisms underlying the specificity of disease manifestati...
