Project description:Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by epigenetic silencing of FMR1 and loss of FMRP expression. Here we describe the establishment of an isogenic human pluripotent embryonic stem cell model of FXS. Using CRISPR/Cas9 to introduce indels in exon 3 of FMR1 and result in complete loss of FMRP (FMR1KO). We show that FMRP-deficient neurons exhibit a number of phenotypic abnormalities including neurite outgrowth and branching deficits and impaired electrophysiological network activity as measured by multi-electrode arrays. RNA-Seq analysis of FMRP-deficient neurons revealed transcriptional dysregulation in pathways related to neurodevelopment, neurotransmission, and the cell cycle
Project description:Detailed transcriptomic analyses of differentiated cell populations derived from human pluripotent stem cells is routinely used to assess the identity and utility of the differentiated cells. In particular, single cell RNA-sequencing (scRNA-seq) can provide insights into both the cellular and transcriptional heterogeneity of differentiated cell populations. Here we provide scRNA-seq data obtained from ROR1-expressing lens epithelial cells (ROR1e LECs) obtained via directed differentiation of CA1 human embryonic stem cells. Through the use of principal component analysis, heat maps and gene ontology assessments, we demonstrate that ROR1e LECs represent a highly purified and large-scale population of lens cells. These data provide a resource for future characterisation of both normal and cataractous human lens biology.
Project description:Fragile X Syndrome (FXS) is a neurodevelopmental disorder caused by epigenetic silencing of FMR1 and loss of FMRP expression. Here we describe the establishment of an isogenic human pluripotent embryonic stem cell model of FXS. Using CRISPR/Cas9 to introduce indels in exon 3 of FMR1 and result in complete loss of FMRP (FMR1KO). We show that FMRP-deficient neurons exhibit a number of phenotypic abnormalities including neurite outgrowth and branching deficits and impaired electrophysiological network activity as measured by multi-electrode arrays. RNA-Seq and proteome analysis of FMRP-deficient neurons revealed transcriptional dysregulation in pathways related to neurodevelopment, neurotransmission, and the cell cycle.
Project description:Metabolic profiling in wild type and autophagy-deficient human embryonic stem cell (hESC)-derived neurons after 3 weeks of neuronal differentiation.
Autophagy is a homeostatic process critical for cellular survival, and its malfunction is implicated in myriad human diseases including neurodegeneration. Loss of autophagy contributes to cytotoxicity and tissue degeneration, but the mechanistic understanding of this phenomenon remains elusive. Here we have generated autophagy-deficient human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), from which we have established human neuronal platform to investigate how loss of autophagy affects neuronal survival. ATG5 deficient neurons exhibit basal cytotoxicity accompanied by metabolic defects. Depletion of nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD) due to hyperactivation of NAD-consuming enzymes is found to trigger cell death via mitochondrial depolarisation in ATG5 deficient neurons. Boosting intracellular NAD levels improve cell viability by restoring mitochondrial bioenergetics and proteostasis in ATG5 deficient neurons. Our findings elucidate a mechanistic link between autophagy deficiency and neuronal cell death that can be targeted for therapeutic interventions in neurodegenerative and lysosomal storage diseases associated with autophagic defect.
Project description:<p>During development of the human brain, multiple cell types with diverse regional identities are generated. Here we report a system to generate early human brain forebrain and mid/hindbrain cell types from human embryonic stem cells (hESCs), and infer and experimentally confirm a lineage tree for the generation of these types based on single-cell RNA-Seq analysis. We engineered <i>SOX2<sup>Cit/+</sup></i> and <i>DCX<sup>Cit/Y</sup></i> hESC lines to target progenitors and neurons throughout neural differentiation for single-cell transcriptomic profiling, then identified discrete cell types consisting of both rostral (cortical) and caudal (mid/hindbrain) identities. Direct comparison of the cell types were made to primary tissues using gene expression atlases and fetal human brain single-cell gene expression data, and this established that the cell types resembled early human brain cell types, including preplate cells. From the single-cell transcriptomic data a Bayesian algorithm generated a unified lineage tree, and predicted novel regulatory transcription factors. The lineage tree highlighted a prominent bifurcation between cortical and mid/hindbrain cell types, confirmed by clonal analysis experiments. We demonstrated that cell types from either branch could preferentially be generated by manipulation of the canonical Wnt/beta-catenin pathway. In summary, we present an experimentally validated lineage tree that encompasses multiple brain regions, and our work sheds light on the molecular regulation of region-specific neural lineages during human brain development.</p>
Project description:The aim of this project is to differentiate human embryonic stem cells to an extra-embryonic fate, specifically the hypoblast. This is of uttermost importance given the current lack of human hypoblast stem cells.
We hypothesized that the pluripotent characteristics of the starting human embryonic stem cell population may dictate the competency for extra-embryonic cell fate specification. Based on this hypothesis and using human embryonic stem cells maintained in different naïve-like culture regimes, we have now developed conditions that allow the differentiation of human embryonic stem cells to a stable GATA6+ SOX2- population. This suggests that these cells may be putative human hypoblast stem cells. To validate this finding here we propose to perform RNA sequencing experiments of the differentiated human embryonic stem cells. By comparing their RNA expression profile to the single cell sequencing data of the human embryo that we are currently generating, we will be able to determine the identity of our GATA6+ SOX2- cells, and establish whether they represent the in vivo human hypoblast.