Achievement

Aaron Carlson, an IGERT trainee in the Moghe and Hart laboratories at Rutgers has adapted methods to directly convert induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) to neuronal cells using ectopic expression of defined sets of neural transcription factors. This results in rapid conversion of iPSCs to neurons, termed “induced neurons” or “iPS-iN cells”. The Rutgers team has also adapted this protocol to 3-D fibrous polymeric scaffolds fabricated by electrospinning. Such iPS-iN cells readily developed into neurons expressing key mature neuronal markers including synaptic vesicle protein synaptophysin and glutamate transporter vGLUT1. The fibrous scaffolds enriched mixed populations of early iPS-iN cells and residual, unconverted iPSCs by promoting neuronal adhesion while restricting iPSC adhesion, thus improving the efficiency and purity. These iPS-iN cells within fibrous scaffolds present new technologies for transplantation of human neuronal cells to neurotraumatic sites of injury.