Introduction – Company Background

GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. is a specialized manufacturer dedicated to the development and production of high-quality insoles.

With a strong foundation in material science and footwear ergonomics, we serve as a trusted partner for global brands seeking reliable insole solutions that combine comfort, functionality, and design.

With years of experience in insole production and OEM/ODM services, GuangXin has successfully supported a wide range of clients across various industries—including sportswear, health & wellness, orthopedic care, and daily footwear.

From initial prototyping to mass production, we provide comprehensive support tailored to each client’s market and application needs.

At GuangXin, we are committed to quality, innovation, and sustainable development. Every insole we produce reflects our dedication to precision craftsmanship, forward-thinking design, and ESG-driven practices.

By integrating eco-friendly materials, clean production processes, and responsible sourcing, we help our partners meet both market demand and environmental goals.

Core Strengths in Insole Manufacturing

At GuangXin Industrial, our core strength lies in our deep expertise and versatility in insole and pillow manufacturing. We specialize in working with a wide range of materials, including PU (polyurethane), natural latex, and advanced graphene composites, to develop insoles and pillows that meet diverse performance, comfort, and health-support needs.

Whether it's cushioning, support, breathability, or antibacterial function, we tailor material selection to the exact requirements of each project-whether for foot wellness or ergonomic sleep products.

We provide end-to-end manufacturing capabilities under one roof—covering every stage from material sourcing and foaming, to precision molding, lamination, cutting, sewing, and strict quality control. This full-process control not only ensures product consistency and durability, but also allows for faster lead times and better customization flexibility.

With our flexible production capacity, we accommodate both small batch custom orders and high-volume mass production with equal efficiency. Whether you're a startup launching your first insole or pillow line, or a global brand scaling up to meet market demand, GuangXin is equipped to deliver reliable OEM/ODM solutions that grow with your business.

Customization & OEM/ODM Flexibility

GuangXin offers exceptional flexibility in customization and OEM/ODM services, empowering our partners to create insole products that truly align with their brand identity and target market. We develop insoles tailored to specific foot shapes, end-user needs, and regional market preferences, ensuring optimal fit and functionality.

Our team supports comprehensive branding solutions, including logo printing, custom packaging, and product integration support for marketing campaigns. Whether you're launching a new product line or upgrading an existing one, we help your vision come to life with attention to detail and consistent brand presentation.

With fast prototyping services and efficient lead times, GuangXin helps reduce your time-to-market and respond quickly to evolving trends or seasonal demands. From concept to final production, we offer agile support that keeps you ahead of the competition.

Quality Assurance & Certifications

Quality is at the heart of everything we do. GuangXin implements a rigorous quality control system at every stage of production—ensuring that each insole meets the highest standards of consistency, comfort, and durability.

We provide a variety of in-house and third-party testing options, including antibacterial performance, odor control, durability testing, and eco-safety verification, to meet the specific needs of our clients and markets.

Our products are fully compliant with international safety and environmental standards, such as REACH, RoHS, and other applicable export regulations. This ensures seamless entry into global markets while supporting your ESG and product safety commitments.

ESG-Oriented Sustainable Production

At GuangXin Industrial, we are committed to integrating ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) values into every step of our manufacturing process. We actively pursue eco-conscious practices by utilizing eco-friendly materials and adopting low-carbon production methods to reduce environmental impact.

To support circular economy goals, we offer recycled and upcycled material options, including innovative applications such as recycled glass and repurposed LCD panel glass. These materials are processed using advanced techniques to retain performance while reducing waste—contributing to a more sustainable supply chain.

We also work closely with our partners to support their ESG compliance and sustainability reporting needs, providing documentation, traceability, and material data upon request. Whether you're aiming to meet corporate sustainability targets or align with global green regulations, GuangXin is your trusted manufacturing ally in building a better, greener future.

Let’s Build Your Next Insole Success Together

Looking for a reliable insole manufacturing partner that understands customization, quality, and flexibility? GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. specializes in high-performance insole production, offering tailored solutions for brands across the globe. Whether you're launching a new insole collection or expanding your existing product line, we provide OEM/ODM services built around your unique design and performance goals.

From small-batch custom orders to full-scale mass production, our flexible insole manufacturing capabilities adapt to your business needs. With expertise in PU, latex, and graphene insole materials, we turn ideas into functional, comfortable, and market-ready insoles that deliver value.

Contact us today to discuss your next insole project. Let GuangXin help you create custom insoles that stand out, perform better, and reflect your brand’s commitment to comfort, quality, and sustainability.

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Custom foam pillow OEM in Taiwan

Are you looking for a trusted and experienced manufacturing partner that can bring your comfort-focused product ideas to life? GuangXin Industrial Co., Ltd. is your ideal OEM/ODM supplier, specializing in insole production, pillow manufacturing, and advanced graphene product design.

With decades of experience in insole OEM/ODM, we provide full-service manufacturing—from PU and latex to cutting-edge graphene-infused insoles—customized to meet your performance, support, and breathability requirements. Our production process is vertically integrated, covering everything from material sourcing and foaming to molding, cutting, and strict quality control.ODM pillow factory in Thailand

Beyond insoles, GuangXin also offers pillow OEM/ODM services with a focus on ergonomic comfort and functional innovation. Whether you need memory foam, latex, or smart material integration for neck and sleep support, we deliver tailor-made solutions that reflect your brand’s values.

We are especially proud to lead the way in ESG-driven insole development. Through the use of recycled materials—such as repurposed LCD glass—and low-carbon production processes, we help our partners meet sustainability goals without compromising product quality. Our ESG insole solutions are designed not only for comfort but also for compliance with global environmental standards.Vietnam insole ODM for global brands

At GuangXin, we don’t just manufacture products—we create long-term value for your brand. Whether you're developing your first product line or scaling up globally, our flexible production capabilities and collaborative approach will help you go further, faster.Vietnam insole OEM manufacturer

📩 Contact us today to learn how our insole OEM, pillow ODM, and graphene product design services can elevate your product offering—while aligning with the sustainability expectations of modern consumers.Graphene sheet OEM supplier China

Angiosperms353 revolutionizes flowering plant research by merging advanced DNA sequencing with genetic data from 1KP, a comprehensive database of over 1,000 species, painstakingly compiled over a decade by an international team. How do you study a group of organisms with over 300,000 species, dispersed across all seven continents, and with up to 50 times as much DNA content as the human genome? This is the question posed to biologists studying the evolutionary history of flowering plants, called angiosperms, whose rapid diversification was so convoluted a problem that Darwin referred to it as the ‘abominable mystery.’ This month, both the American Journal of Botany (AJB) and Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS) are devoting their July issues to what has recently become a turning point in the way scientists study the relationships among flowering plants. Dubbed Angiosperms353, the initiative combines new and innovative DNA sequencing techniques with genetic information from 1KP, a massive data resource with DNA from more than 1,000 species that took an international team over a decade to complete. “Using these gene sequences as a common tool opens up new questions that could not have been looked at before,” said Dr. Matthew Johnson, assistant professor and herbarium director at Texas Tech University and one of the original architects of Angiosperms353. The covers of Applications in Plant Sciences (left) and the American Journal of Botany (right) for the companion special issues “Exploring Angiosperms353: A Universal Toolkit for Flowering Plant Phylogenomics.” The APPS cover features a heatmap, a bioinformatic application routinely used to visually inspect the success of target sequence capture. The color-coded strings on the AJB cover represent an Incan quipu, which consists of a main cord (i.e., phylogenetic backbone) from which multiple other strings hang in a nested fashion (i.e., tree branches). For more information, see the special issue front matter information. Credit: APPS concept: Lisa Pokorny and Matthew G. Johnson. AJB concept: Lisa Pokorny. Design: Sonia Agüera, TenMei Illustration. The Greater Phylogenetic Good Until now, geneticists have had to choose between two options when designing a study: either obtain small amounts of DNA for a large number of organisms or the reverse. After DNA sequencing was originally developed in the mid-1960s, scientists primarily went with the first option. They began stitching together the tree of life by comparing genetic sequences shared widely among species. Named after its founder, Sanger sequencing was used to assemble trees by examining just a small number of genes, somewhat like trying to understand a country by only visiting its capital. With the advent of next-generation sequencing at the turn of the century, some researchers began specializing in the opposite approach, meticulously assembling a single organism’s entire genetic code. The first test case, the Human Genome Project, was completed in 2003, spurring the new age of genomics. Today, next-generation sequencing has largely replaced older methods in most labs. However, costs remain prohibitively high for many researchers. And while knowing the genetic code of an organism’s entire genome comes in handy when trying to answer specific questions, such as how proteins and cells function at a molecular level, comparing genomes is an inefficient way of piecing together relationships. To overcome these challenges, researchers have adopted a technique called target sequence capture, which leverages the advantages of next-generation sequencing while focusing in on defined sets of hundreds of genes. This method of retrieving DNA has boomed in popularity in the past few years, allowing scientists filling in the branches and leaves on the tree of life to probe both deeply and widely within and between species. But target sequence capture still has one major drawback in that, unlike its Sanger counterpart, there hasn’t yet been a widely standardized set of sequences with which to compare across multiple studies and to build upon their results. Every time a researcher wants to analyze evolutionary patterns in a group of organisms, they have to design new probes to extract genetic information. “These increasingly popular genomic methods allow scientists to fish out hundreds of genes; however, the probes needed to do this are expensive and complex to design, and usually only work for a narrowly defined group,” said Dr. William Baker, a Senior Research Leader at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, and a lead guest editor for the AJB special issue. This limitation has hampered the development of large studies on the evolutionary history of plants, but is an issue scientists identified early on and have worked diligently over the past decade to avoid. Starting in 2019 with the release of two combined probe sets — Angiosperms353 for flowering plants and GoFlag for groups including ferns and mosses — they’re now starting to reap the rewards of their labor. “Angiosperms353 targets a standardized set of genes, which means published data can be re-used and synthesized across studies for the ‘greater phylogenetic good,'” Baker said. The Splash Zone Plant biologists haven’t wasted any time in putting the Angiosperms353 probes to use. The 20 studies published in these special issues span the breadth of angiosperm diversity, encompassing over 500 genera and several times as many species. And because of the broad utility of the probes, each study also zooms in on a particular group at different magnifications. Many of the genetic sequences the probes correspond to have been relatively stable throughout the 140-million-year history of flowering plants. These DNA strands accumulate mutations at a glacial pace and are thus useful in constructing the main branches of the angiosperm tree of life. Other sequences mutate at a much faster clip, to the extent that no two are alike in any given species. And while most of the probes correspond to DNA actively used by cells to create proteins, they also adhere to small portions of DNA that flank either end of a protein-coding strand, regions emblematically referred to as ‘the splash zone.’ These flanking regions don’t actively code for proteins; in fact, scientists are still unsure exactly what they do. What they do know is this non-coding DNA mutates quickly, similar to the types of genes used for forensic testing in crime labs. In plants, they can be used to illuminate close relationships among closely related species or to reveal patterns of genetic diversity among individuals, filling in the small twigs and leaves on the tree of life and providing an important roadmap for conservation efforts. Past, Present, and Future Sequence capture also has an important advantage over previous techniques in that it can be reliably used to retrieve old DNA. This feature is extremely important in a field where some estimates suggest the majority of the 70,000 or so plant species yet to be discovered have already been collected and stored in herbaria. Some species, such as Miconia abscondita, were only discovered through genetic analysis of herbarium tissue after they’d gone extinct in the wild. And analyses of plant communities from ages past have been used in multiple cases to study how plants are responding to climate change. The studies in these issues offer a glimpse into the future of plant phylogenetics, one in which researchers can obtain immense quantities of data in a fraction of the time it would have taken them just 20 years ago. For Baker, who will be publishing Angiosperms353 data for over 7,000 flowering plant genera later this year, that future looks bright. In concert with the Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew, he and several colleagues have been using the new probe set to construct the plant tree of life through the PAFTOL project. He’s also helped launch a free repository called the Kew Tree of Life Explorer to store and distribute the growing amounts of genetic data from researchers around the world who are using the probes. “The standardization of these targeted genes will pay dividends for decades to come, as we inch towards our collective goal of a complete tree of life for all species,” Baker said. The American Journal of Botany (AJB) and Applications in Plant Sciences (APPS) are published by the Botanical Society of America, in partnership with Wiley. ARTICLES INCLUDED IN THESE ISSUES Antonelli, A., J. J. Clarkson, K. Kainulainen, O. Maurin, G. E. Brewer, A. P. Davis, N. Epitawalage, et al. 2021. Settling a family feud: a high-level phylogenomic framework for the Gentianales based on 353 nuclear genes and partial plastomes. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1142-1164. Baker, W. J., S. Dodsworth, F. Forest, S. W. Graham, M. G. Johnson, A. McDonnell, L. Pokorny, et al. 2021b. Exploring Angiosperms353: an open, community toolkit for collaborative phylogenomic research on flowering plants. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1058-1064. Buerki, S., M. W. Callmander, P. Acevedo-Rodriguez, P. P. Lowry II, J. Munzinger, P. Bailey, O. Maurin, et al. 2021. An updated infra-familial classification of Sapindaceae based on targeted enrichment data. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1233-1250. Clarkson, J. J., A. R. Zuntini, O. Maurin, S. R. Downie, G. M. Plunkett, A. N. Nicolas, J. F. Smith, et al. 2021. A higher-level nuclear phylogenomic study of the carrot family (Apiaceae). American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1251-1268. Eserman, L. A., S. K. Thomas, E. E. D. Coffey, and J. H. Leebens-Mack. 2021. Target sequence capture in orchids: developing a kit to sequence hundreds of single-copy loci. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11416. Hendriks, K. P., T. Mandáková, N. M. Hay, E. Ly, A. Hooft van Huysduynen, R. Tamrakar, S. K. Thomas, et al. The best of both worlds: combining lineage-specific and universal bait sets in target-enrichment hybridization reactions. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11438. Lee, A. K., I. S. Gilman, M. Srivastav, A. D. Lerner, M. J. Donoghue, and W. L. Clement. 2021. Reconstructing Dipsacales phylogeny using Angiosperms353: issues and insights. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1121-1141. Maurin, O., A. Anest, S. Bellot, E. Biffin, G. Brewer, T. Charles-Dominique, R. S. Cowan, et al. 2021. A nuclear phylogenomic study of the angiosperm order Myrtales, exploring the potential and limitations of the universal Angiosperms353 probe set. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1086-1110. McDonnell, A. J., W. J. Baker, S. Dodsworth, F. Forest, S. W. Graham, M. G. Johnson, L. Pokorny, J. Tate, S. Wicke, and N. J. Wickett. 2021. Exploring Angiosperms353: developing and applying a universal toolkit for flowering plant phylogenomics. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11443. McLay, T. G. B., J. L. Birch, B. F. Gunn, W. Ning, J. A. Tate, L. Nauheimer, E. M. Joyce, et al. 2021. New targets acquired: improving locus recovery from the Angiosperms353 probe set. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11420 Nauheimer, L., N. Weigner, E. Joyce, D. Crayn, C. Clarke, and K. Nargar. 2021. HybPhaser: a workflow for the detection and phasing of hybrids in target capture data sets. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11441. Ottenlips, M. V., D. H. Mansfield, S. Buerki, M. A. E. Feist, S. R. Downie, S. Dodsworth, F. Forest, et al. 2021. Resolving species boundaries in a recent radiation with the Angiosperms353 probe set: The Lomatium packardiae/L. anomalum clade of the L. triternatum (Apiaceae) complex. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1216-1232. Pérez-Escobar, Ó. A., S. Dodsworth, D. Bogarín, S. Bellot, J. A. Balbuena, R. J. Schley, I. A. Kikuchi, et al. 2021. Hundreds of nuclear and plastid loci yield novel insights into orchid relationships. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1165-1179. Pillon, Y., H. C. F. Hopkins, O. Maurin, N. Epitawalage, J. Bradford, Z. S. Rogers, W. J. Baker, and F. Forest. 2021. Phylogenomics and biogeography of Cunoniaceae (Oxalidales) with complete generic sampling and taxonomic realignments. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1180-1199. Shah, T., J. V. Schneider, G. Zizka, O. Maurin, W. Baker, F. Forest, G. E. Brewer, V. Savolainen, et al. 2021. Joining forces in Ochnaceae phylogenomics: A tale of two targeted sequencing probe kits. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1200-1215. Siniscalchi, C. M., O. Hidalgo, L. Palazzesi, J. Pellicer, L. Pokorny, O. Maurin, I. J. Leitch, et al. 2021. Lineage-specific vs. universal: a comparison of the Compositae1061 and Angiosperms353 enrichment panels in the sunflower family. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11422. Slimp, M., L. D. Williams, H. Hale, and M. G. Johnson. 2021. On the potential of Angiosperms353 for population genomic studies. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11419. Thomas, A. E., J. Igea, H. M. Meudt, D. C. Albach, W. G. Lee, and A. J. Tanentzap. 2021. Using target sequence capture to improve the phylogenetic resolution of a rapid radiation in New Zealand Veronica. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1288-1305. Thomas, S. K., X. Liu, Z.-Y. Du, Y. Dong, A. Cummings, L. Pokorny, Q.-Y. Xiang, and J. H. Leebens-Mack. 2021. Comprehending Cornales: phylogenetic reconstruction of the order using the Angiosperms353 probe set. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1111-1120. Ufimov, R., V. Zeisek, S. Píšová, W. J. Baker, T. Fér, M. van Loo, C. Dobeš, and R. Schmickl. 2021. Relative performance of customized and universal probe sets in target enrichment: A case study in subtribe Malinae. Applications in Plant Sciences 9(7): e11442. Wenzell, K. E., A. J. McDonnell, N. J. Wickett, J. B. Fant, and K. A. Skogen. 2021. Incomplete reproductive isolation and low genetic differentiation despite floral divergence across varying geographic scales in Castilleja. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1269-1287. Zuntini, A. R., L. P. Frankel, L. Pokorny, F. Forest, and W. J. Baker. 2021. A comprehensive phylogenomic study of the monocot order Commelinales, with a new classification of Commelinaceae. American Journal of Botany 108(7): 1065-1085.

Study shows almost all individuals with two copies of the APOE4 gene develop Alzheimer’s, indicating a new genetic form of the disease. Credit: SciTechDaily Scientists have discovered that nearly all individuals with two copies of the APOE4 gene will develop signs of Alzheimer’s disease, suggesting a distinct genetic form of Alzheimer’s. In a new study from the Research Area on Neurological Diseases, Neuroscience, and Mental Health at the Sant Pau Research Institute, researchers found that more than 95% of individuals over the age of 65 who have two copies of the APOE4 gene show biological characteristics of Alzheimer’s pathology in the brain or biomarkers of this disease in cerebrospinal fluid and PET scans. They also discovered that these individuals, called APOE4 homozygotes, develop the disease earlier than those with other variants of the APOE gene. These findings indicate that having two copies of the APOE4 gene could represent a new genetic form of Alzheimer’s disease. “These data represent a reconceptualization of the disease or what it means to be homozygous for the APOE4 gene. This gene has been known for over 30 years and it was known to be associated with a higher risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. But now we know that virtually all individuals with this duplicated gene develop Alzheimer’s biology. This is important because they represent between 2 and 3% of the population,” explained lead researcher Dr. Juan Fortea, Director of the Memory Unit of the Neurology Service at the Sant Pau Research Institute. Researchers from the Research Area on Neurological Diseases, Neuroscience, and Mental Health at the Sant Pau Research Institute, led by Dr. Juan Fortea, Director of the Memory Unit of the Neurology Service at the same hospital, have found that over 95% of individuals over 65 years old who have two copies of the APOE4 gene -APOE4 homozygotes- show biological characteristics of Alzheimer’s pathology in the brain or biomarkers of this disease in cerebrospinal fluid and PET scans. Credit: Karla Islas Pieck – Institut de Recerca Sant Pau Study Methodology and Findings In their research, the team evaluated clinical, pathological, and biomarker changes in APOE4 homozygotes to determine their risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease. They utilized data from 3,297 brain donors, including samples from 273 APOE4 homozygotes from the National Alzheimer’s Coordinating Center and clinical and biomarker data from over 10,000 individuals, including 519 APOE4 homozygotes from five large multicenter cohorts of subjects with Alzheimer’s disease biomarkers. They found that virtually all APOE4 homozygotes showed Alzheimer’s pathology and had higher levels of disease-associated biomarkers at age 55 compared to individuals with the APOE3 gene. At age 65, over 95% of APOE4 homozygotes showed abnormal levels of amyloid in cerebrospinal fluid – a key early pathological feature in Alzheimer’s disease – and 75% had positive amyloid scans. These results suggest that the genetic variant of the APOE4 gene is not only a risk factor for Alzheimer’s disease, but could also represent a distinct genetic form of Alzheimer’s disease. “This reconceptualization of the disease is similar to what we proposed from Sant Pau with Down syndrome, which a few years ago was also not considered a genetically determined form of Alzheimer’s,” adds Fortea. Clinical and Research Implications These findings could be instrumental in the development of individualized prevention strategies, clinical trials, and targeted treatment approaches for this specific population. Dr. Alberto Lleó, a researcher in the Dementia Neurobiology Group at the Sant Pau Research Institute, points out that “the data clearly show that having two copies of the APOE4 gene not only increases the risk but also anticipates the onset of Alzheimer’s, reinforcing the need for specific preventive strategies.” Furthermore, Dr. Víctor Montal, who actively participated in this research and now studies the molecular structure of the APOE gene at the Barcelona Supercomputing Center, adds that “the findings emphasize the importance of monitoring APOE4 homozygotes from an early age for preventive interventions.” Reference: “APOE4 homozygozity represents a distinct genetic form of Alzheimer’s disease” by Juan Fortea, Jordi Pegueroles, Daniel Alcolea, Olivia Belbin, Oriol Dols-Icardo, Lídia Vaqué-Alcázar, Laura Videla, Juan Domingo Gispert, Marc Suárez-Calvet, Sterling C. Johnson, Reisa Sperling, Alexandre Bejanin, Alberto Lleó and Víctor Montal, 6 May 2024, Nature Medicine. DOI: 10.1038/s41591-024-02931-w

Human stem cells in a glass needle are being injected into a mouse embryo held by the pipette on the left. Credit: Image by Aimee Stablewski and Dawn Barnas at the Gene Targeting and Transgenic Resource, Roswell Park Comprehensive Cancer Center The research enables far more accurate models of human development and disease and could help solve the shortage of organs for transplant. A year after University at Buffalo scientists demonstrated that it was possible to produce millions of mature human cells in a mouse embryo, they have published a detailed description of the method so that other laboratories can do it, too. The ability to produce millions of mature human cells in a living organism, called a chimera, which contains the cells of two species, is critical if the ultimate promise of stem cells to treat or cure human disease is to be realized. But to produce those mature cells, human primed stem cells must be converted back into an earlier, less developed naive state so that the human stem cells can co-develop with the inner cell mass in a mouse blastocyst. The protocol outlining how to do that has now been published in Nature Protocols by the UB scientists. They were invited to publish it because of the significant interest generated by the team’s initial publication describing their breakthrough last May. “This paper will enable many scientists to use this new platform to study the human disease of their interest,” said Jian Feng, PhD, professor of physiology and biophysics in the Jacobs School of Medicine and Biomedical Sciences at UB and senior author. “Over time, it will transform biomedical research toward a more effective use of the human model system to directly study virtually any inborn condition of an individual. It will stimulate unforeseen discoveries and applications that may fundamentally change our understanding of human biology and medicine.” The protocol will allow scientists to create animal models that Feng said provide a much more realistic picture of embryonic development than has ever been possible. These more realistic animal models also will have the potential to reveal the mechaniswms behind numerous diseases, especially those that afflict individuals from birth. Better mouse models “This step-by-step protocol will benefit the entire field by enabling other scientists to use our methods to generate chimeras to study human diseases that they are experts in,” said Feng. “It will lead to the generation of better mouse models for various human diseases, such as sickle cell anemia, COVID-19 and many others, or various human developmental disorders.” The paper demonstrates how to generate naive human pluripotent stem cells from existing induced pluripotent stem cells that may be derived from patients with various diseases, how to generate mouse-human chimeras using these cells and how to quantify the amount of human cells in the chimeras. “Using our method, one can now track the development of naive human pluripotent stem cells in mouse-human chimeric embryos in real-time,” said Feng. These stem cells can then be manipulated either genetically or pharmacologically, providing valuable information about human development and disease. “For example, one can label naive human pluripotent stem cells by inserting green fluorescent protein in a hemoglobin gene to study the development of human red blood cells in mouse-human chimeras,” said Feng. Another application is to generate humanized mouse models to study many human diseases. “These mice contain critical human cells, tissues or even organs so that they more accurately reflect the human condition,” said Feng. “With our method, the human cells are made along with the mouse during the development of the mouse embryo. There would be better matching and no rejections, because there are ways for the human cells to be made where there is no competition from their mouse counterparts.” Organs for transplant in the future By allowing others to improve and adapt the method to eventually generate chimeras in larger animals, this protocol may also lead to the generation of human organs to address the dire shortage of organs available for transplant, said Feng. “If naive human pluripotent stem cells are able to generate significant amounts of mature human cells in other larger species, it could be possible to make human tissues or even human organs in chimeric animals,” Feng explained. This would be possible using blastocyst complementation where, Feng explained, normal pluripotent stem cells from one species can reconstitute an organ for that species in a blastocyst of another species that been genetically modified not to grow that particular organ. Feng added: “Ultimately, a better understanding of how human cells develop and grow in chimeras may enable the generation of human cells, tissues and organs in a completely artificial system and fundamentally change how we treat many human diseases. Research using chimeras is a bridge that must be crossed to reach that possibility.” Reference: “Generation of mouse–human chimeric embryos” by Boyang Zhang, Hanqin Li, Zhixing Hu, Houbo Jiang, Aimee B. Stablewski, Brandon J. Marzullo, Donald A. Yergeau and Jian Feng, 2 July 2021, Nature Protocols. DOI: 10.1038/s41596-021-00565-7 Co-authors with Feng are Boyang Zhang, PhD; Hanqin Li, PhD; Zhixing Hu, PhD; and Houbo Jiang, PhD, all of the Department of Biophysics and Physiology in the Jacobs School; Aimee B. Stablewski, co-director of the Gene Targeting and Transgenic Resource of the Roswell Park Comprehensive Care Center; Donald A. Yergeau, PhD; and Brandon J. Marzullo of the Genomics and Bioinformatics Core of UB’s New York State Center of Excellence in Bioinformatics and Life Sciences. The work was supported by NYSTEM and the Buffalo Blue Sky Initiative.

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