Methods to generate glial restricted neural progenitor cells and uses thereof

A method to make glial restricted progenitor cells (GRNPCs) comprising:

• generating embryonic bodies (EBs) from ESCs or iPSCs by culturing the ESCs or iPSCs in a feeder-free maintenance medium and then in a SM1 neural induction medium;
• generating neural progenitor cells (NPCs) from EBs by plating the EBs onto laminin/polyornithine coated plates and culturing in SM1 neural induction media supplemented with bFGF;
• differentiating the NPCs to GRNPCs by:
• culturing the EBs in microwell culture plates in SM1 neural induction media supplemented with bFGF to form cell aggerates;
• collecting and culturing the cell aggregates for at least 24 h in suspension and under agitation to form free-floating spheres;
• culturing the spheres in SM1 neural induction media supplemented with a ROCK inhibitor for at least 24 h, and then in SM1 neural induction media for at least 7 days;
• culturing the spheres in astrocyte growth media for at least 10 days to form astrospheres;
• plating the astrospheres on laminin/ polyornithine coated plates and culturing the plates for at least 5 days to form GRNPCs.