Study Overview
iPS cells, established by Professor Shinya Yamanaka of the Center for iPS Cell Research and Application at Kyoto University, are pluripotent stem cells with the ability to differentiate into various cell types throughout the body and to proliferate indefinitely. iPS cells can be generated by introducing certain factors into cells derived from our own bodies. These characteristics make iPS cells promising for applications in a wide range of fields, including cell transplantation therapy, elucidation of pathological conditions, and new drug development.
However, cell-based assays involving iPS cells requires significant resources in terms of cost, technology, and time. Our company leverages the expertise of our experienced iPS cell experimenters to provide comprehensive support for various iPS cell experiments, research, and development, from literature research and test planning and implementation to the compilation of results data, tailored to our customers’ needs.
We are also focusing on the development of iPS cell-related services, with plans to gradually expand the scope of our services in the future. In addition to the services we currently offer, we are also able to propose and implement custom testing systems to meet your needs. Please feel free to contact us.
*ACEL, Inc. has concluded a patent license agreement with iPS Academia Japan, Inc. regarding the following iPS cell-related studies. Therefore, a license agreement between the customer and iPS Academia Japan Inc. is not required.
Photo of human iPS cells
List of contracted services
Examination of iPS cell culture conditions
Cell adhesion, cell proliferation, maintenance of undifferentiated state, cryopreservation conditions, etc.
We will conduct evaluation tests on the overall cell culture of human iPS cells.
Human iPS cells are easily affected by the culture environment. Inappropriate medium changes, passaging, or freezing can change the cell’s properties, making it impossible to maintain an undifferentiated state or causing the cells to lose pluripotency. Furthermore, the optimal culture method varies depending on the characteristics of the iPS cell line used and the establishment environment, so there are a wide variety of methods available, and development is ongoing to find the optimal one.
We conduct evaluation experiments on your iPS cell culture conditions (media, compounds, cultureware such as dishes, coating agents, detachment solutions, freezing solutions, etc.) and provide you with study data. We offer a variety of iPS cell function evaluation studies, including proliferation ability, adhesion, undifferentiated state, and differentiation ability, and we will propose the optimal evaluation system to meet your needs.
①Adhesion evaluation study
Human iPS cells are typically maintained on feeder cells. However, a culture system that does not use feeder cells is desirable, not only for applications in regenerative medicine but also for ease of handling in various cell experiments. Maintaining human iPS cells without feeder cells generally requires pre-coating plates or dishes with a substrate such as Matrigel or laminin. However, these reagents are often expensive, vary between lots, and are complicated to operate. Therefore, a cheaper, more stable, and simpler method for culturing human iPS cells is needed.
We perform studies to evaluate the adhesiveness of iPS cells using reagents, substrates, and culture media developed by our customers.
We can also evaluate morphology, proliferation ability, undifferentiated state, and pluripotency after adhesion.
②Undifferentiated state evaluation study
It is believed that a transcription factor network centered around specific transcription factors such as OCT3/4, NANOG, and SOX2 maintains the undifferentiated state of human iPS cells. Furthermore, undifferentiated iPS cells are known to highly express surface antigens such as SSEA-4, TRA-1-60, and TRA-1-81, as well as the enzyme alkaline phosphatase.
By examining the expression and activity of these genes specific to the undifferentiated state, we can assess the undifferentiated state of iPS cells under the iPS cell culture conditions you wish to test. In addition to the above, we also perform expression analysis of various genes according to your request.
Immunostaining of undifferentiated markers in human iPS cells (in-house test data)
Evaluation of conditions for inducing differentiation of iPS cells
We will conduct evaluation studies to investigate differentiation induction systems for target cells
In theory, human iPS cells can differentiate into almost any cell type throughout the body. Currently, progress is being made in the development of methods for inducing differentiation into various cell types.
We conduct comparative tests of iPS cell differentiation induction conditions into various cell types, with the aim of examining differentiation induction conditions for drug discovery screening, developing new differentiation induction methods, and improving differentiation induction conditions. We evaluate the impact of drugs and compounds under development on iPS cell differentiation efficiency using markers and functional studies on various differentiated cells. We can also compare large numbers of samples using real-time PCR, plate readers, high-content screening equipment and more.
Beating of human iPS cell-derived cardiomyocytes (video)
*Studies will be mainly conducted by those with doctoral degrees.
