@article {428461,
	title = {ALS disrupts spinal motor neuron maturation and aging pathways within gene co-expression networks.},
	journal = {Nat Neurosci},
	year = {2016},
	month = {2016 Jul 18},
	abstract = {Modeling amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) with human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) aims to reenact embryogenesis, maturation and aging of spinal motor neurons (spMNs) in vitro. As the maturity of spMNs grown in vitro compared to spMNs in vivo remains largely unaddressed, it is unclear to what extent this in vitro system captures critical aspects of spMN development and molecular signatures associated with ALS. Here, we compared transcriptomes among iPSC-derived spMNs, fetal spinal tissues and adult spinal tissues. This approach produced a maturation scale revealing that iPSC-derived spMNs were more similar to fetal spinal tissue than to adult spMNs. Additionally, we resolved gene networks and pathways associated with spMN maturation and aging. These networks enriched for pathogenic familial ALS genetic variants and were disrupted in sporadic ALS spMNs. Altogether, our findings suggest that developing strategies to further mature and age iPSC-derived spMNs will provide more effective iPSC models of ALS pathology.},
	issn = {1546-1726},
	doi = {10.1038/nn.4345},
	url = {http://www.nature.com/neuro/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nn.4345.html},
	author = {Ho, Ritchie and Sances, Samuel and Gowing, Genevieve and Amoroso, Mackenzie Weygandt and O{\textquoteright}Rourke, Jacqueline G and Sahabian, Anais and Wichterle, Hynek and Baloh, Robert H and Sareen, Dhruv and Svendsen, Clive N}
}
@article {Li2016545,
	title = {Protein Prenylation Constitutes an Endogenous Brake on Axonal Growth},
	journal = {Cell Reports},
	volume = {16},
	number = {2},
	year = {2016},
	month = {July 12, 2016},
	pages = {545 - 558},
	abstract = {Summary Suboptimal axonal regeneration contributes to the\&nbsp;consequences of nervous system trauma and neurodegenerative disease, but the intrinsic mechanisms that regulate axon growth remain unclear. We screened 50,400 small molecules for their ability to promote axon outgrowth on inhibitory substrata. The most potent hits were the statins, which stimulated growth of all mouse- and human-patient-derived neurons tested, both in\&nbsp;vitro and in\&nbsp;vivo, as did combined inhibition of the protein prenylation enzymes farnesyltransferase (PFT) and geranylgeranyl transferase I (PGGT-1). Compensatory sprouting of motor axons may delay\&nbsp;clinical onset of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).\&nbsp;Accordingly, elevated levels of PGGT1B, which would be predicted to reduce sprouting, were found in motor neurons of early- versus late-onset \ALS\ patients postmortem. The mevalonate-prenylation pathway therefore constitutes\&nbsp;an endogenous brake on axonal growth, and its inhibition provides a potential therapeutic approach to accelerate neuronal regeneration in humans.},
	issn = {2211-1247},
	doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.celrep.2016.06.013},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211124716307379},
	author = {Li, Hai and Takaaki Kuwajima and Derek Oakley and Nikulina, Elena and Hou, Jianwei and Wan~Seok Yang and Emily~Rhodes Lowry and Nuno~Jorge Lamas and Mackenzie~Weygandt Amoroso and Gist~F. Croft and Raghavendra Hosur and Wichterle, Hynek and Said Sebti and Marie~T. Filbin and Brent Stockwell and Christopher~E. Henderson}
}
@article {236731,
	title = {Serotonergic neurons signal reward and punishment on multiple timescales},
	journal = {eLife},
	year = {2015},
	note = {Read the eLife Insight\&nbsp;here\&nbsp;(By Peter Dayan and Quentin Huys)
Recommended by F1000
},
	publisher = {eLife Sciences Publications Limited},
	abstract = {Serotonin{\textquoteright}s function in the brain is unclear. One challenge in testing the numerous hypotheses about serotonin{\textquoteright}s function has been observing the activity of identified serotonergic neurons in animals engaged in behavioral tasks. We recorded the activity of dorsal raphe neurons while mice experienced a task in which rewards and punishments varied across blocks of trials. We {\textquoteright}tagged{\textquoteright} serotonergic neurons with the light-sensitive protein channelrhodopsin-2 and identified them based on their responses to light. We found three main features of serotonergic neuron activity: (1) a large fraction of serotonergic neurons modulated their tonic firing rates over the course of minutes during reward versus punishment blocks; (2) most were phasically excited by punishments; and (3) a subset was phasically excited by reward-predicting cues. By contrast, dopaminergic neurons did not show firing rate changes across blocks of trials. These results suggest that serotonergic neurons signal information about reward and punishment on multiple timescales.\&nbsp;},
	isbn = {2050-084X},
	doi = {10.7554/eLife.06346},
	url = {http://elifesciences.org/content/4/e06346},
	author = {Jeremiah Y. Cohen and Amoroso, Mackenzie W and Uchida,Naoshige}
}
@article {Re20141001,
	title = {Necroptosis Drives Motor Neuron Death in Models of Both Sporadic and Familial ALS},
	journal = {Neuron},
	volume = {81},
	year = {2014},
	note = {Read the Neuron review here (By\&nbsp;Sheila\&nbsp;K. Pirooznia,\&nbsp;Valina\&nbsp;L. Dawson,\&nbsp;Ted\&nbsp;M. Dawson)},
	pages = {1001 - 1008},
	issn = {0896-6273},
	doi = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.neuron.2014.01.011},
	url = {http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0896627314000166},
	author = {Diane~B. Re and Virginia Le~Verche and Changhao Yu and Mackenzie~W. Amoroso and Kristin~A. Politi and Sudarshan Phani and Burcin Ikiz and Lucas Hoffmann and Martijn Koolen and Tetsuya Nagata and Dimitra Papadimitriou and Peter Nagy and Hiroshi Mitsumoto and Shingo Kariya and Wichterle, Hynek and Christopher~E. Henderson and Serge Przedborski}
}
@article {98501,
	title = {Accelerated High-Yield Generation of Limb-Innervating Motor Neurons from Human Stem Cells},
	volume = {33},
	number = {2},
	year = {2013},
	note = {Read the Journal of Neuroscience Journal Club article here\&nbsp;},
	month = {2013},
	pages = {574 - 586},
	publisher = {Society for Neuroscience},
	isbn = {0270-6474},
	author = {Amoroso, Mackenzie W and Croft, Gist F and Williams, Damian J and O{\textquoteright}Keeffe, Sean and Carrasco, Monica A and Davis, Anne R and Roybon, Laurent and Oakley, Derek H and Maniatis, Tom and Henderson, Christopher E}
}
@article {98506,
	title = {Making motor axons grow},
	volume = {30},
	number = {8},
	year = {2012},
	month = {2012},
	pages = {613 - 614},
	publisher = {Pergamon},
	author = {Kanning, Kevin C and Li, Hai and Nikulina, Elena and Hou, Jianwei and Yang, Wan S and Kaplan, Artem and Bermingham, John R and Lamas, Nuno J and Amoroso, Mackenzie W and Wichterle, Hynek}
}
@article {98491,
	title = {Concentration-Dependent Requirement for Local Protein Synthesis in Motor Neuron Subtype-Specific Response to Axon Guidance Cues},
	volume = {32},
	number = {4},
	year = {2012},
	month = {2012},
	pages = {1496 - 1506},
	publisher = {Society for Neuroscience},
	isbn = {0270-6474},
	url = {http://www.jneurosci.org/content/32/4/1496.long},
	author = {N{\'e}delec, St{\'e}phane and Peljto, Mirza and Shi, Peng and Amoroso, Mackenzie W and Kam, Lance C and Wichterle, Hynek}
}
@article {98496,
	title = {Maturation of Spinal Motor Neurons Derived from Human Embryonic Stem Cells},
	volume = {7},
	number = {7},
	year = {2012},
	month = {2012},
	pages = {e40154},
	publisher = {Public Library of Science},
	abstract = {Our understanding of motor neuron biology in humans is derived mainly from investigation of human postmortem tissue and more indirectly from live animal models such as rodents. Thus generation of motor neurons from human embryonic stem cells and human induced pluripotent stem cells is an important new approach to model motor neuron function. To be useful models of human motor neuron function, cells generated\&nbsp;in vitro\&nbsp;should develop mature properties that are the hallmarks of motor neurons\&nbsp;in vivo\&nbsp;such as elaborated neuronal processes and mature electrophysiological characteristics. Here we have investigated changes in morphological and electrophysiological properties associated with maturation of neurons differentiated from human embryonic stem cells expressing GFP driven by a motor neuron specific reporter (Hb9::GFP) in culture. We observed maturation in cellular morphology seen as more complex neurite outgrowth and increased soma area over time. Electrophysiological changes included decreasing input resistance and increasing action potential firing frequency over 13 days\&nbsp;in vitro. Furthermore, these human embryonic stem cell derived motor neurons acquired two physiological characteristics that are thought to underpin motor neuron integrated function in motor circuits; spike frequency adaptation and rebound action potential firing. These findings show that human embryonic stem cell derived motor neurons develop functional characteristics typical of spinal motor neurons\&nbsp;in vivo\&nbsp;and suggest that they are a relevant and useful platform for studying motor neuron development and function and for modeling motor neuron diseases.},
	isbn = {1932-6203},
	url = {http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0040154},
	author = {Takazawa, Tomonori and Croft, Gist F and Amoroso, Mackenzie W and Studer, Lorenz and Wichterle, Hynek and MacDermott, Amy B}
}
@article {98486,
	title = {A functionally characterized test set of human induced pluripotent stem cells},
	volume = {29},
	number = {3},
	year = {2011},
	note = {*Co-First Authors (Boulting, Kiskinis, Croft, Amoroso, Oakley)\&nbsp;},
	month = {2011},
	pages = {279 - 286},
	publisher = {Nature Publishing Group},
	isbn = {1087-0156},
	url = {http://www.nature.com/nbt/journal/v29/n3/full/nbt.1783.html},
	author = {Boulting, Gabriella L and Kiskinis, Evangelos and Croft, Gist F and Amoroso, Mackenzie W and Oakley, Derek H and Wainger, Brian J and Williams, Damian J and Kahler, David J and Yamaki, Mariko and Davidow, Lance}
}
@article {98481,
	title = {Reference Maps of human ES and iPS cell variation enable high-throughput characterization of pluripotent cell lines},
	volume = {144},
	number = {3},
	year = {2011},
	month = {2011},
	pages = {439 - 452},
	publisher = {Elsevier},
	abstract = {The developmental potential of human pluripotent stem cells suggests that they can produce disease-relevant cell types for biomedical research. However, substantial variation has been reported among pluripotent cell lines, which could affect their utility and clinical safety. Such cell-line-specific differences must be better understood before one can confidently use embryonic stem (ES) or induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells in translational research. Toward this goal we have established genome-wide reference maps of DNA methylation and gene expression for 20 previously derived human ES lines and 12 human iPS cell lines, and we have measured the in vitro differentiation propensity of these cell lines. This resource enabled us to assess the epigenetic and transcriptional similarity of ES and iPS cells and to predict the differentiation efficiency of individual cell lines. The combination of assays yields a scorecard for quick and comprehensive characterization of pluripotent cell lines.},
	isbn = {0092-8674},
	url = {http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3063454/},
	author = {Bock, Christoph and Kiskinis, Evangelos and Verstappen, Griet and Gu, Hongcang and Boulting, Gabriella and Smith, Zachary D}
}
