Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FORMAT (FORMAT: a novel medium FOr Revolutionizing stem cell MAnufacturing Technologies)
Berichtszeitraum: 2017-01-01 bis 2018-06-30
Over the last 3 years and with the help of this ERC-PoC grant my lab made an important stem cell growth condition platform that may transform the enormous potential of stem cell science into viable and sustainable treatments for degenerative and age-related diseases. In particular, we were the first group worldwide who successfully managed to generate Extracellular-signal-Regulated Kinases (ERK) signalling independent human naïve PSCs (both ESCs and iPSCs) that are more equivalent to those derived from mice and known to be extremely flexible and robust. These Human naïve PSCs constitute a completely new category of human stem cells that is characterised by an earlier developmental stage, i.e. they are more “primitive” than typical human PSCs and equivalent to mouse iPSCs. We managed to do so by employing a panel of different inhibitors and cytokines to produce a novel Naïve Human Stem cell Medium (NHSM) that allows the acquisition of many naïve features that were previously observed only in mice. Importantly, this new pluripotent configuration, not only comes in different molecular flavours, but also appears to have different and enhanced functional properties. For instance, we were the first to be able to successfully reconstitute in vitro the early human cells that give rise to either oocytes or spermatozoa, known as Primordial Germ Cells (PGCs). Importantly, NHSM based discoveries have been commercialised within a multiple products and sold by the top leading stem cell product company worldwide.