Annual Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells: Production and Utility in Regenerative Medicine 2012

Human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs) generated by reprogramming somatic cells represent an unique opportunity for regenerative medicine. Indeed, hIPSCs can proliferate indefinitely in vitro while maintaining the capacity to differentiate into broad number of cell type. Therefore, hIPSCs could be used to produce an infinite quantity of cell type with a clinical interest. In addition, hIPSCs could enable the production of patient specific cell types which are fully immuno-compatible with the original donor thereby avoiding the need for immune suppressive treatment during cell based therapy. However, recent reports have suggested that epigenetic and genetic anomalies associated with direct reprogramming technology could limit the interest of hIPSCs for in vivo use.

This 3rd Annual event will review the drawback and advantages of hIPSCs for diverse type of clinical applications.