In June 2025, Daylon and Arun attended the International Society for Stem Cell Research’s (ISSCR) annual meeting in Hong Kong, and recorded daily episodes discussing highlights of the previous 24 hours. Here is the third of four episodes, where Daylon and Arun discuss research on cell therapy for inflammatory bowel disease and hearing loss. They also talk about Dr. Jacob Hanna’s work on ex utero embryo culture, Dr. Paola Arlotta’s research on long-term brain organoids, and Di Pan’s insights into sponge regeneration.

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Dr. Scott Younger is the Director of Disease Gene Engineering within the Genomic Medicine Center at Children’s Mercy Hospital. His research focuses on producing patient-derived cellular models to develop functional precision medicine. He talks about using personalized antisense oligonucleotides to reverse disease phenotypes in organoid models of Duchenne muscular dystrophy. He also discusses his lab’s personal connections to the rare disease community and the opportunities for collaborations with clinicians at Children’s Mercy. (36:52)

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Chronic Stress and Intestinal Stem Cells – Chronic impairs the stemness of intestinal stem cells via the vagal pathway. (1:43)

Liver Regeneration – Glutamate metabolically reprograms bone marrow-derived macrophages, subsequently boosting liver regeneration. (9:40)

CRISPR Activation in Embryo Models – CRISPR activation-programmed embryo models mimic the pre-gastrulation embryonic stage. (18:30)

Retinal Regeneration – Human neural retinal stem-like cells in fetal retinas exhibit substantial self-renewal and differentiation potential. (27:45)

Image courtesy of Dr. Scott Younger

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Dr. Ziyuan Guo is an Assistant Professor of Pediatrics at the Center for Stem Cell & Organoid Medicine at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital. He talks about in vivo reprogramming and cell and gene therapy in neurodevelopmental and neurodegenerative disorders. He also discusses assembloids to model the blood-brain barrier and strategies for organoid vascularization.

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Modeling Celiac Disease – Scientists generated air–liquid interface duodenal organoids from celiac disease patients.

Intestinal Immuno-Organoids – Intestinal immuno-organoids can be used to study tissue-resident immune responses in tumorigenesis and other diseases.

Naive PSCs in the Blastocyst – A blastocyst motif substrate reverts mouse and human PSCs to a naive state in vitro.

Sensory Neuron Excitability – Schwann cell-secreted PGE2 promotes neuronal maturation and normal sensory function.

Image courtesy of Dr. Ziyuan Guo

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Dr. Pierre Vanderhaeghen is a Professor and Principal Investigator at VIB-KU Leuven Center for Brain & Disease Research. His lab studies the mechanisms of cortical development and brain evolution. He talks about species-specific neuronal development, human neuron excitability, and playing in a rock cover band!

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Modeling Cancer Ex Vivo – Induced mini-colons recapitulated hallmarks of colorectal tumors.

Human Embryo Gastrulation – Scientists reconstructed a 3D model of a gastrulating human embryo using spatial transcriptomics.

Treating Timothy Syndrome – Antisense oligonucleotides rescued defects in patient-derived cortical organoids.

Sympathetic Neurons in Jawless Vertebrates – Scientists identified trunk sympathetic neurons in the sea lamprey.

Image courtesy of Dr. Pierre Vanderhaeghen

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