Conventional human pluripotent stem cells (PSC) are considered to be a later developmental stage of PSC, whose counterparts in mouse are the epiblast stem cells, rather than embryonic stem (ES) cells. Dr. Yasuhiro Takashima and Professor Austin Smith at the University of Cambridge have successfully reset conventional human PSC to the earliest developmental stage of human stem cells. The character of these reset cells is similar to mouse ES cells, also known as naïve PSC. The reset cells now equate to the true starting cells of human life, before any stimulus for development has begun. Reset cells will be useful to understand human development and could find widespread use as the safe and reproducible starting material for applications, including cell therapy.
Researcher Information
JST PRESTO
Research Area "Understanding Life by iPS Cells Technology"
Research Theme "Establishment and analysis of naïve state human iPS/ES cells"
Journal Information
Yasuhiro Takashima, Ge Guo, Remco Loos, Jennifer Nichols, Gabriella Ficz, Felix Krueger, David Oxley, Fatima Santos, James Clarke, William Mansfield, Wolf Reik, Paul Bertone, and Austin Smith. "Resetting transcription factor control circuitry towards ground-state pluripotency in human". Cell, Published online 11 September 2014, doi: 10.1016/j.cell.2014.08.029
Contact
[About Research]
Yasuhiro Takashima, M.D, Ph.D.
Research Associate, Wellcome Trust-Medical Research Council Stem Cell Institute, University of Cambridge
E-mail: 
URL: http://www.stemcells.cam.ac.uk/
[About Program]
Koji Matsuo, Takafumi Kawaguchi, and Yuichi Mine
Life Innovation Group, Department of Innovation Research, JST
E-mail: 