Stem cells articles within Nature Materials

Featured

  • Article |

    The influence of stress relaxation of the extracellular matrix on the formation of intestinal organoids was investigated. It was shown that a stress-relaxing synthetic matrix promotes crypt budding through increased symmetry breaking and niche cell formation.

    • Antonius Chrisnandy
    • , Delphine Blondel
    •  & Matthias P. Lutolf

  • Editorial |

    Over the last few years, there has been a shift towards the use of three-dimensional multicellular structures that more closely recapitulate native tissues and organs as tools to understand development, physiology and pathology.

  • Review Article |

    This Review provides an overview of bioengineering technologies that can be harnessed to facilitate the culture, self-organization and functionality of human pluripotent stem cell-derived organoids.

    • Elena Garreta
    • , Roger D. Kamm
    •  & Nuria Montserrat

  • Review Article |

    This Review highlights the recent emergence of stem-cell-derived embryo models for the purpose of advancing our understanding of mammalian embryology as well as their potential uses in regenerative and reproductive medicine.

    • Jianping Fu
    • , Aryeh Warmflash
    •  & Matthias P. Lutolf

  • Article |

    Type-1 innate lymphoid cells have been shown to drive intestinal epithelial proliferation and extracellular matrix remodelling through TGF-β1 secretion, which could exacerbate inflammatory bowel disease comorbidities such as cancer and fibrosis.

    • Geraldine M. Jowett
    • , Michael D. A. Norman
    •  & Eileen Gentleman

  • News & Views |

    Hematopoietic stem and progenitor cells have been engineered using gold nanoformulations conjugated with CRISPR capable of targeting two distinct genomic loci of therapeutic interest, with potential engraftment in humanized mouse models.

    • Aravind Asokan

  • News & Views |

    With their ability to give rise to many different cell types, stem cells have long been a target of scientists who seek to achieve control over their differentiation. New evidence suggests that stem cells influence their own fates through protein deposition and physical remodelling of their microenvironment.

    • Eric L. Qiao
    • , Sanjay Kumar
    •  & David V. Schaffer

  • News & Views |

    Over-expression of a transcriptional factor, Alx3, has been shown to revitalize the regenerative capacity of adult progenitor cells to promote enhanced stromal vascularization and formation of parenchymal dental pulp tissue in vivo.

    • Sarah E. Millar

  • News & Views |

    A two-step method has been developed for the accelerated and efficient generation of human kidney organoids using in vitro and in ovo culture in a three-dimensional environment.

    • Susana M. Chuva de Sousa Lopes

  • News & Views |

    A micropatterned human pluripotent stem cell-based developmental model was utilized to demonstrate the role of biophysical cues such as cell size and cytoskeletal contractile forces in directing patterning of neuroepithelial and neural plate border cells.

    • Mukul Tewary
    •  & Peter W. Zandstra

  • News & Views |

    The influence of matrix stiffness and degradation on neural progenitor cell stemness was investigated in a three-dimensional culture system, highlighting the role of remodelling in enhancing cell-to-cell interaction and ultimately maintaining neural stemness.

    • Phillip H. Kang
    • , Sanjay Kumar
    •  & David V. Schaffer

  • Commentary |

    Biomaterials engineered with specific bioactive ligands, tunable mechanical properties and complex architecture have emerged as powerful tools to probe cell sensing and response to physical properties of their material surroundings, and ultimately provide designer approaches to control cell function.

    • Linqing Li
    • , Jeroen Eyckmans
    •  & Christopher S. Chen

  • News & Views |

    Biophysical factors in an optimized three-dimensional microenvironment enhance the reprogramming efficiency of human somatic cells into pluripotent stem cells when compared to traditional cell-culture substrates.

    • Oscar J. Abilez
    •  & Joseph C. Wu

  • Commentary |

    Materials-based control of stem cell fate is beginning to be rigorously combined with traditional soluble-factor approaches to better understand the cells' behaviour and maximize their potential for therapy.

    • P. C. Dave P. Dingal
    •  & Dennis E. Discher

  • Editorial |

    Understanding how cells sense and adapt to their environment, and engineering defined culture substrates, will be central to progress in tissue engineering and regenerative medicine.

  • News & Views |

    The nuclei of naive mouse embryonic stem cells that are transitioning towards differentiation expand when the cells are stretched and contract when they are compressed. What drives this auxetic phenotype is, however, unclear.

    • Ning Wang

  • News & Views |

    Physical cues from the extracellular environment influence the lineage commitment of stem cells. Now, experiments on human mesenchymal stem cells cultured on photodegradable hydrogels show that the cells' fate can also be determined by past physical environments.

    • Jeroen Eyckmans
    •  & Christopher S. Chen

  • News & Views |

    Adult cells can be routinely reprogrammed into pluripotent stem cells by chemical and genetic means, such as the expression of a cocktail of exogenous transcription factors. It is now shown that growing cells on substrates with aligned features such as microgrooves can enhance this process.

    • Yan Xu
    • , Longqi Liu
    •  & Miguel A. Esteban

  • Article |

    Somatic cells can be reprogrammed into induced pluripotent stem cells biochemically through the expression of a few transcription factors. It is now shown that aligned microgrooves or nanofibres on cell-adhesive substrates can promote the reprogramming of somatic cells more efficiently through epigenetic regulation of genes related to pluripotency and the mesenchymal-to-epithelial transition. The findings suggest that the epigenetic state can be regulated by variations in cell morphology.

    • Timothy L. Downing
    • , Jennifer Soto
    •  & Song Li

  • News & Views |

    Technologies to isolate colonies of human pluripotent stem cells from other cell types in a high-throughput manner are lacking. A microfluidic-based approach that exploits differences in the adhesion strength between these cells and a substrate may soon fill the gap.

    • Oscar J. Abilez
    •  & Joseph C. Wu

  • Article |

    Adhesive interactions between stem cells and the extracellular matrix are known to regulate stem cell differentiation, yet the underlying mechanisms are not well understood. It is now shown that fate decisions of stem cells encapsulated in covalently crosslinked hydrogels are regulated, independently of matrix mechanics and cell morphology, by the cellular tension generated from cell-induced degradation of the hydrogels.

    • Sudhir Khetan
    • , Murat Guvendiren
    •  & Jason A. Burdick

  • News & Views |

    The spreading and differentiation of stem cells depends on the stiffness of the extracellular matrix. Now, experiments on human epidermal and mesenchymal stem cells cultured on substrates with covalently attached collagen fibres show that the cells sense and respond to the anchoring of the collagen fibres to the substrate.

    • Ovijit Chaudhuri
    •  & David J. Mooney

  • Article |

    On standard tissue culture platforms, mesenchymal stem cells tend to spontaneously differentiate with the loss of multi-lineage potential. Now, a robust and reproducible nanotopographical platform has been shown to maintain stem cell phenotype and promote stem cell growth over several months whilst implicating mechanisms for the observed stem cell behaviour

    • Rebecca J. McMurray
    • , Nikolaj Gadegaard
    •  & Matthew J. Dalby

  • Article |

    Structure–property relationships between material properties and stem cell behaviour are investigated using high-throughput methods. The data identify the optimal substrates within a range of different polymeric surfaces to support the growth and self-renewal of human embryonic stem cells from fully dissociated single cells.

    • Ying Mei
    • , Krishanu Saha
    •  & Daniel G. Anderson

  • News & Views |

    Experiments have shown that the physical characteristics of the matrix surrounding a stem cell can affect its behaviour. This picture gets further complicated by studies of stem cells and their differentiated counterparts that show that the cells' own softness also has a clear role in how they respond to stress.

    • Andrew W. Holle
    •  & Adam J. Engler

Browse broader subjects

Browse narrower subjects

Browse Stem cells across other nature.com journals