Invitrogen Corporation, a provider of essential life science technologies for disease research and drug discovery, has launched a new engineered stem cell line that will allow scientists to monitor the pluripotency of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) without sacrificing those cells.

The line is the first one with this characteristic to be made generally available for sale. A pluripotent stem cell is one that has the ability to develop, or differentiate, into cells of all the three major lineages -- endoderm, mesoderm and ectoderm. The BG01v/hOG line is obtained by engineering the BG01v hESC line with the Oct-4 promoter, a known pluripotency marker, coupled with a green fluorescent protein (GFP) reporter. The engineered line glows green when the cells are in a pluripotent state, but the cells lose their fluorescence as they start to differentiate. This allows scientists to track pluripotency without having to sacrifice the cells as they currently have to do by analyzing gene or protein expression.

"The BG01v/hOG cell line is a tool that can make stem cell research faster, easier and more reliable," said Joydeep Goswami, vice president, stem cells and regenerative medicine. "It is crucial for stem cell researchers to know if the cells they are working with are still pluripotent, or if they have already begun to differentiate. With this line, they can quickly make that determination and simultaneously monitor whether their media composition is optimal for keeping the cells undifferentiated."

In addition, the cells can be used as a reporter of the cell culture's response to external stimuli, including media composition and stress. This offers researchers a control to better monitor whether their culture conditions are adequate for keeping the hESCs in an undifferentiated state.

Invitrogen is the premier supplier of tools and reagents for stem cell research. The company offers more than 1,200 products tailored to various parts of the stem cell research workflow for embryonic and adult stem cell populations, including Dynabeads for cell separation; pre-conjugated stem cell antibodies from Molecular Probes; and gold standard media from Gibco such as Knockout Serum Replacement and MesenPRO RS reduced serum medium for mesenchymal stem cells.