NF2 is Essential for Human Endoderm Development (Adv. Sci. 17/2025)

Human Endoderm Development Stem cell differentiation is a critical process in early development and involves the activation and deactivation of genes. The cover art highlights the crucial role of NF2 in regulating endoderm differentiation in human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSC; bottom). Minjin Jeong, Dongjun Han, Konstantina M. Stankovic and co-workers demonstrate that CRISPR/Cas9-mediated NF2 knockout iPSCs (center left) are redirected from normal endodermal differentiation (center right) toward a myoblast-like lineage (top left). Through gain-of-function and loss-of-function approaches, the authors uncover core elements vital for proper endoderm formation from iPSCs. The results open new avenues for targeted differentiation, allowing for enhanced modeling of human development and diseases, as well as improving drug screening and cell therapies. More details can be found in article number 2410909.