Standardised production of stem cell-derived hepatic progenitors

06 July 2020

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Stem cell derived hepatocyte like cells expressing E-Cadherin (green) and nuclei (blue)

Professor Dave Hay and his team at CRM have developed a standardised approach for the production of hepatic progenitors on a large scale. This represents a promising alternative to organ transplantation for the treatment of liver disease in the future.

While liver transplantation is an effective form of treatment, it is severely limited by organ availability. Therefore, the development of renewable sources of human liver progenitor cells is desirable. 

To be able to effectively generate and deploy human liver progenitors on a large scale, the team have developed a reproducible hepatic progenitor differentiation system. This system will also aid in vitro endeavours, improving experimental reproducibility and permitting automated manufacture, using a number of pluripotent stem cell lines.

The team have been working with Stemcell Technologies to beta test the system prior to its commercial launch.

It has been great to work with industry to translate our knowledge and beta test a new differentiation system for the market to produce liver cells at scale.

Professor Dave Hay, Group Leader, Centre for Regenerative Medicine

The study is published in JoVE, doi: 10.3791/61256.

 

JoVE article in full

Professor Dave Hay Research Group

Article by Ellie Roger and Robin Morton (CRM/IRR Comms)