University of Southern California

Es Cell International Pte Ltd

Martin Federick Pera

Benjamin Eithan Reubinoff

Tamir Ben-Hur

Kouichi Hasegawa

Tracy L Zinberg

The present invention relates to undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells, methods of cultivation and propagation and production of differentiated cells. In particular it relates to the production of human ES cells capable of yielding somatic differentiated cells in vitro, as well as committed progenitor cells such as neural progenitor cells capable of giving rise to mature somatic cells including neural cells and/or glial cells and uses thereof. This invention provides methods that generate in vitro and in vivo models of controlled differentiation of ES cells towards the neural lineage. The model, and cells that are generated along the pathway of neural differentiation may be used for: the study of the cellular and molecular biology of human neural development, discovery of genes, growth factors, and differentiation factors that play a role in neural differentiation and regeneration, drug discovery and the development of screening assays for teratogenic, toxic and neuroprotective effects.

Neural progenitor cells derived from embryonic stem cells

The present invention relates to methods of induction and isolation of progenitor cells from stem cell cultures, specifically liver progenitor cells from human embryonic stem cell cultures. In one embodiment, the present invention provides a method of inducing hepatocyte-like progenitor cells by placing a quantity of human embryonic stem cells in a medium supplemented with an inhibitor of the MAPK/MEK/ERK signaling pathway, FGFR, GSK3 and/or BMP.

Growing community of inventors

Los Angeles, CA, United States of America

Martin Federick Pera