Naive hPSCs can readily give rise to human trophoblast stem cells, thus demonstrating their extraembryonic lineage potential and providing a new model system to study human trophectoderm specification.

Finch embryos are laid at an earlier stage than other avian embryos and contain cells with similar properties to pluripotent embryonic stem cells from mice.

Identifying the pathways that support human naive-state pluripotent stem cells provides insights into the signalling-based regulation of human pluripotency and enables informed decisions to improve conditions for pluripotent cell culture.

Genetic and biochemical analyses reveal that two stem-cell-specific microRNAs control stem cell fate decisions between pluripotency and differentiation through repressing Ago2, a key component of the microRNA machinery.

Interaction of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) with human amniotic epithelial cells (hAEC) confers hESC a pluripotent potential that resembles the anteriorized epiblast, which is predisposed to form the neural ectoderm.

During reprogramming of human fibroblasts to naïve iPSCs there is transient reactivation of transcripts with the characteristics of 8-cell-stage-embryos.

Clonal naïve human embryonic stem cells assemble an Arp2/3 complex-dependent contractile actin filament ring around colonies that promotes tensional forces favoring cell-cell adhesion and nuclear translocation of YAP to maintain ground-state pluripotency.

Accumulation of succinate during the in vitro modeling of embryonic stem cell state transition critically regulate cell fate.

Post-implantation epiblast maturation and patterning of anterior-posterior axis in mouse embryonic development are mediated by pluripotency transcription factor Zfp281 through transcriptional and epigenetic control of Nodal signaling.

New evidence sheds light on actin regulation of pluripotency in human embryonic stem cells.