Provided is a differentiation agent consisting essentially of SOX9 for generating
oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs) from pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). Also provided are methods of generating PSCs and methods of using PSCs to generate OPCs and oligodendrocytes.SOLUTION: A method comprising culturing pluripotent stem cells (PSCs) to produce a
population of cells comprising
oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPCs), wherein the PSCs express engineered nucleic acids encoding SOX9 at a level sufficient to differentiate the PSCs into OPCs in the absence of other transcription factors encoded by the engineered nucleic acids.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2C