Singapore, May 14, 2008: Australia’s Stem Cell Sciences has said that the US Patent and Trademark Office has granted its patent for technology that improves the efficiency of the culture and derivation of embryonic stem cells which leads to an increased purity of the cells. This technology offers advantages for cell-based drug discovery applications, where the prevention of uncontrolled differentiation facilitates the efficient expansion of the cells prior to their utilization.

 

The patent claims cover the culture and derivation of embryonic stem (ES) cells using a medium that contains leukaemia inhibitory factor (LIF) and an inhibitor of an enzyme, which activates mitogen-activated protein kinases, the enzyme is named MEK. When ES cells differentiate they begin to secrete factors that lead to the differentiation of other ES cells and the proliferation of these cells results in the purity of the ES culture being lost. A MEK inhibitor in combination with LIF suppresses undesired differentiation and maintains the pluripotent nature of the ES cells.

 

“Purity and homogeneity are critical factors when ES cell growth from single cells is required. The probability of a cell being an ES cell in a culture becomes very low when differentiation is not controlled. Single ES cell colony growth is vital when selecting for gene targeted variants of ES cells for use in drug discovery,” Dr Tim Allsopp, Chief Scientific Officer of Stem Cell Sciences explained.