Kyoto University The Kazuo Takayama lab reports that PDMS-based liver-on-chip naturally absorb some drugs, which affects drug toxicity results. Liver-on-a-chip are miniaturized devices that capture the physiological and mechanical properties of the liver. They are commonly used by researchers to study how the liver metabolizes different compounds and drugs. In a new study seen in ACS Biomaterials Science & Engineering, CiRA Junior Associate Professor Kazuo Takayama and colleagues report which drugs based on their physicochemical properties are most suitable when using liver-on-a-chip to study drug toxicity. One of the most important tests for any drug approval is hepatotoxicity. In fact, the United States Food and Drug Administration claims it is the number one cause of safety-related drug withdrawal from the market. Thus, exhaustive testing is mandatory, as otherwise a company that has invested billions of dollars on a drug could see it all lost because of this danger
Kyoto University The Noriyuki Tsumaki lab reports the effects of gene editing monkey iPS cells on regenerative medicine for damaged knee cartilage. Immune rejection is one of the biggest obstacles to a cell therapy. To solve this problem, researchers have been investigating iPS cells that have been gene edited so that they can evade the immune system. While this concept is theoretically possible, there is limited evidence that it works in species resembling humans. A new study by the laboratory of CiRA Professor Noriyuki Tsumaki shows that this strategy is more complicated than expected when using monkey iPS cells to treat damaged knee cartilage in monkeys. The study can be read in Tissue Engineering Part A.
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Kyoto University The Hidetoshi Sakurai laboratory reports two new markers that should advance iPS cell therapies for muscle degeneration. Muscular dystrophy describes a group of muscle degenerative congenital diseases. The severity and rates differ between disease and patient, but in all cases the degeneration progresses, sometimes leaving patients in wheelchairs and unable to breathe without artificial respiration. With no present cure, scientists are experimenting with the transplantation of muscle progenitor cells, but the amounts needed can only be made from stem cells such as iPS cells. A new study by CiRA Associate Professor Hidetoshi Sakurai and colleagues report two cell surface receptors, CDH13 and FGFR4, that are expected to advance iPS cell therapies for these diseases.
Kyoto University
The Hotta lab shows that protection from cellular RNA enhances the genome editing of iPS cells. The ability for scientists to edit human genomic DNA has been around for decades. Such research has revealed how a single mutation in just one of the billions of base pairs in the human genome can cause destructive diseases. In the past decade, advances in CRISPR-Cas9 technology have taken DNA editing a major step farther and promise to revolutionize regenerative medicine. One of the biggest challenges for therapeutic application is the efficiency of precise genome editing. A new study by Junior Associate Professor Akitsu Hotta and colleagues reports a simple but key step in the delivery of CRISPR-Cas9 into iPS cells that enhances this efficiency.