Induction of Ground-State Pluripotency by Minimal Factor Episomal-Expression in Single Cell Format

Human pluripotent stem cells in culture are often associated with the prime state which represents a more developed state relative to the naïve state which is often associated with the inner cell mass and thought to have the potential to give rise to all cell types. We have developed a small molecule-driven cocktail FMM that maintains human pluripotent stem cells in a state similar to the naive state as defined by several properties including gene expression profile. We used global gene expression to compare and contrast induced pluripotent stem cells -- from various starting points -- cultured in either small molecule medium FMM or conventional medium. Somatic cells were induced to reprogram by various methods and maintained in various culture conditions. Each culture condition was analyzed by various methods including global gene expression.