Recapitulating early mammalian kidney development in vitro by priming and differentiating mouse embryonic stem cells as a monolayer

In order to harness the potential of pluripotent stem cells, we need to understand how to differentiate them to our target cell types. Here, we developed a protocol to differentiate mouse embryonic stem cells (ESC) to renal progenitors in a step-wise manner. Microarrays were used to track the transcriptional changes at each stage of differentiation and we observed that genes associated with metanephros, ureteric bud and blood vessel development were significantly upregulated as the cells differentiated towards renal progenitors and kidney organoids We used microarrays to analyze the gene expression profile of cells and to assess for transcriptional changes that occur during cellular differentiation. Mouse embryonic stem cells were differentiated to mesoderm cells (3 replicates), intermediate mesoderm cells (3 replicates) and renal progenitors (3 replicates). Renal progenitors were then coaxed to form 8D, 14D and 21D organoids (3 replicates each). Control cells/tissues include: embryonic stem cells (3 replicates), embryonic kidneys (3 replicates, and adult mouse kidneys (3 replicates)