Human ES/iPS cells (hES/iPSCs) are a powerful tool for in vitro disease modeling and are expected to be a promising cell source for cell therapy targeting many degenerative diseases including muscular dystrophies. At present, however, derivation of skeletal muscle stem cells/progenitors with high regenerative potential from hES/iPSCs is still challenging. In addition, in vitro generated hES/iPSC-derived myofibers are morphologically and functionally less mature than postnatal myofibers. In this special issue, we would like to summarize the current status of research progress on ES/iPSC-based disease modelling and ES/iPSC-based cell therapy, discuss what the barriers are for the successful induction of skeletal muscle suitable for regenerative medicine and ES/iPSC-based drug development, and collect technical tips for in vitro disease modeling and ES/iPSC-based regenerative medicine.

We welcome animal derived-ES/iPSC. We also welcome both a comprehensive review article and an original cutting-edge research article describing a novel finding on muscle differentiation of ES/iPSCs, which would improve protocols for skeletal muscle cell induction from ES/iPSCs. We also accept a manuscript describing studies which has been well-planned and correctly performed but failed to be published in a top-journal due to negative data.

Potential topics include but are not limited to the following:

• Biomaterials for 3D culture of ES/iPSC-derived skeletal muscle
• In vitro modeling of human diseases using patient-derived cells or gene-edited ES/iPSCs
• iPSC-mediated high throughput screening of small molecules which reverse disease phenotypes
• Methods for deviation of highly regenerative skeletal muscle stem cells/progenitor cells from ES/iPSCs
• Purification of ES/iPSC-derived skeletal muscle stem cells/progenitors for safe and efficient cell therapy
• Efficient transplantation methods of ES/iPSC-derived skeletal muscle stem cells/progenitors
• Induction of tumor-free ES/iPSC-derived skeletal muscle stem cells/progenitors
• Evaluation of safe transplantable ES/iPSC-derived skeletal muscle stem cells/progenitors