Stemcells, Inc. Launches Cell Culture Medium Enabling the Derivation and Maintenance of True Mouse iPS Cells

StemCells, Inc. announced today the launch of GS2-M™, a new cell culture medium that enables the derivation and long-term maintenance of true (germline competent) mouse induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. GS2-M, the latest addition to the Company’s growing SC Proven® line of specialty cell culture products, has been shown to increase the efficiency of reprogramming ‘pre-iPS’ cells to derive fully pluripotent stem cells, and to maintain mouse iPS cells in a definitive pluripotent state in long-term culture.

The majority of preclinical iPS cell research being done today involves the use of mouse cells. For this reason, GS2-M is expected to be of significant interest to scientists in the expanding field of iPS cell research.

“GS2-M will allow researchers to reprogram somatic cells and achieve fully pluripotent mouse stem cells with greater efficiency than ever before,” said Stewart Craig, senior vice president, development and operations at StemCells, Inc. “Unlike other media formulations, GS2-M does not contain any undefined factors such as serum, and it does not require the use of feeder cells, making it faster and easier to consistently generate and maintain pure mouse iPS cell lines.”

GS2-M is the second new SC Proven® product to launch this year. Last month, StemCells launched GS1-R™, the first commercially available cell culture medium to enable the derivation, maintenance and growth of true rat embryonic stem (ES) cells. GS2-M and GS1-R, together with the Company’s other SC Proven products, enable leading edge stem cell research, which is expected to play an increasingly important role in the future of medicine.

The defined, serum- and feeder-free GS2-M media formulation is based on the ‘2i’ technology recently developed by prominent academic researchers in the United Kingdom, which has been exclusively licensed to StemCells, Inc. GS2-M contains selective small molecule inhibitors that block differentiation-inducing signals and promote cell survival, enabling the long-term maintenance of germline competent mouse iPS cells in a pluripotent state. Additionally, in the presence of leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF), GS2-M facilitates the conversion of partially reprogrammed, or ‘pre-iPS’, cells into fully pluripotent stem cells.