iPS : Induced Pluripotent Stem cells

The Nantes iPS core facility is open since February 2012. The aim of the facility is to provide support for academic and private research in the field.

We mainly focus on :

-       Human iPS from healthy individuals and patients with complex genetic diseases, and using these iPS to establish physiopathology models ;

-       Rodent iPS dedicated to regenerative medicine and pre-clinical trials ;

-       Reprogramming technology development such as non-integrative systems, blood cells reprogramming ;

-       Standardisation and improvement of iPS quality control.

The main purpose of the core facility is iPS cells derivation from primary cultures. We perform all the quality controls necessary to validate iPS lines. We also offer support to the community for differentiation protocols development and are engaged into hands-on training for iPS maintenance and differentiation.

To perform the quality controls we have access to the full range of technologies already provided by the SFR facilities in Nantes (flow cytometry, imaging, genetic and genomic technologies, animal housing...).

Characterisation of the lines include :

• 1-    Mycoplasma contamination testing
• 2-    Confirmation of the iPS pluripotency state (pluripotency markers expression)
• 3-    Validation of the genetic integrity of the lines (genome sequencing)
• 4-    Validation of differentiation abilities (embryoid bodies, teratoma formation)