Embryonic stem (ES) and induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells have the capacity to differentiate into any type of fetal or adult cell. They represent a powerful set of research tools with the potential to bring sweeping advances to the study of complex diseases, cell-based drug screenings, transplant medicine techniques, and other pressing medical applications. A better understanding of variation among these cells is necessary to fully harness their research potential, as is a manageable, systematic characterization method. Recent research from HSCI Principal Faculty member, Alexander Meissner, PhD, provides genetic and epigenetic maps of 32 pluripotent stem cell lines, demonstrating that iPS and ES cells are not as disparate as previously suspected. Using their extensive characterization data, Meissner’s team generated a set of “scorecards” against which new cell lines can be compared. The scorecards offer a streamlined approach for the selection of one cell line over another for a specific application. This research opens doors for more efficient and effective use of pluripotent stem cells, affording more power to already promising stem cell advances.

Bock, C., Kiskinis, E., Verstappen, G., Gu, H., Boultin, G., Smih, Z., Ziller, M., Croft, G., Amoroso, M., Oakley, D., Gnirke, A., Eggan, K., and Meissner, A. (2011) Reference Maps of Human ES and iPS cell Variation Enable High-Throughput Characterization of Pluripotent Cell Lines. Cell 144, 439-452.