Methods for detection of rare subpopulations of cells and highly purified composition of cells
AssigneeAstellas Institute for Regenerative Medicine
InventorsIrina Klimanskaya, Roger Gay
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
Methods are provided for detection of a target cell type within a cell population, and compositions are provided comprising cells and an indicator that indicates the number of cells of the target cell type in the cell population. Examples are provided in which these methods are used to detect human embryonic stem cells within a differentiated cell population with exquisite sensitivity. Differentiated cells produced from embryonic stem cells can be characterized by these methods before transplantation into a recipient, thereby providing further assurance of safety.
Claims16
A method of producing a population of retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) cells comprising:
- (a) generating a preparation of differentiated RPE cells by culturing pluripotent stem cells in vitro in a differentiation medium for a sufficient duration for RPE cells to appear;
- (b) isolating an aliquot of cells from the preparation of differentiated RPE cells;
- (c) culturing the aliquot of cells in a stem cell medium, wherein the stem cell medium maintains pluripotent stem cells in their pluripotent state;
- and
- (d) examining the aliquot of cells by microscopic observation for the presence of pluripotent stem cells.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.