Rapid Screening of Stem Cells Helps Determine their Fate

A recent study by researchers from the University of Toronto looks at a method scientists developed that can rapidly screen human stem cells and better control what they will turn into.

"The work allows for a better understanding of how to turn stem cells into clinically useful cell types more efficiently," according to Emanuel Nazareth, a PhD student at the Institute of Biomaterials & Biomedical Engineering (IBBME) at the University of Toronto, via a press release.

The researchers used human pluripotent stem cells(hPSC), which uses robotics and automation to test compounds or drugs at once via controllable environments to screen hPSCS in. With it, they also control the size of the stem cell colony or the density of cells via other parameters in order to better study characteristics of the cells as they differentiate or transform into other types. Studies that used stem cells in micro-environments optimized for screening and observing how the stem cells behaved when introduced to chemical changes.

Researchers found two specific types of stem cell proteins, known as Oct4 and Sox2, that can be used to track four major early cell fate types of stem cells from allowing four screens to be performed at once.

"One of the most frustrating challenges is that we have different research protocols for different cell types. But as it turns out, very often those protocols don't work across many different cell lines," Nazareth said.

The work also provides a way to study differences across cell lines that can be used to predict certain genetic information, such as abnormal chromosomes. What's more, these predictions can be done in a fraction of the time compared to other existing techniques, and for a substantially lower cost compared to other testing and screening methods.

"We anticipate this technology will underpin new strategies to identify cell fate control molecules, or even drugs, for a number of different stem cell types," Zandstra said.

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More information regarding the study can be found via the journal Nature Methods.