News Releases & Research Results Development of a culture medium for convenient and efficient proliferation of human iPS cells - Cost reduction in regenerative medicine -

The results of the collaborative research and development project conducted led by Full-time Lecturer Shugo Tohyama and Assistant Professor Shota Someya of the Department of Cardiology and Project Associate Professor Jun Fujita of the Endowed Course for Severe Heart Failure Treatment, Keio University School of Medicine, Human Metabolome Technologies, Inc., and Ajinomoto Co., Inc.

• A culture medium for convenient and efficient proliferation of human iPS cells was successfully developed.
• Of all the amino acids contained in the culture medium, tryptophan, an essential amino acid, is consumed in the largest amount. In a tryptophan-depleted medium, human iPS cells stop proliferating, resulting in cell death. Thus, using a simple method of adding tryptophan to the culture medium commonly used for human iPS cells, human iPS cells efficiently proliferated while maintaining the ability to differentiate into any cell (pluripotency).

This project was conducted with the support of the Research Center Network for Realization of Regenerative Medicine by AMED.

The results were published in iScience on January 27.

Someya S., et al. Tryptophan Metabolism Regulates Proliferative Capacity of Human Pluripotent Stem Cells iScience
DOI: 10.1016/j.isci.2021.102090