An Animal-Free Fully Defined Workflow for Human iPSC Research

By Xi Lu, Marnelle Anderson, David Galitz, Neil Otto, Bryan Jones, Kevin Flynn

This study focuses on developing a method for induced stem cells (iPSC) research and clinical applications that is free from animal components. Human iPSCs have great potential for cellular therapies but are also critical for ex vivo models for studying development, disease mechanisms and performing drug discovery. Researchers have tested various human vitronetin constructs and created an animal-free iPSC expansion medium, ExCellerate iPSC Expansion Medium, that supports the proliferation and growth of iPSC. The iPSCs grown using these methods maintained their pluripotency by successfully differentiated into different cell types. Overall, the findings show that it is possible to have a standardized and reproducible process for iPSC research and clinical translation without using animals.