Differentiating human iPS cells in a label-free time-lapse sequence | HoloMonitor®

This video shows differentiating human induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells. The 48 hour time-lapse was recorded completely label-free with HoloMonitor®.

A pluripotent stem cell is an immature, undifferentiated cell with two distinct properties: it can divide indefinitely to create new, identical stem cells, and it can differentiate and mature into all other cell types in the adult body. Hence, stem cells per se do not perform any specialized tasks in the body, but they are the origin from which all other cells in the body are generated.

In 2006, Shinya Yamanaka showed that by modifying a few genes in an already mature and differentiated cell, the cell could be reverted back to its pluripotent stem cell state. He called them induced pluripotent stem cells, as the pluripotency is artificially reprogrammed in the laboratory. Natural pluripotent stem cells are rare cells in the body, and the discovery of iPS cells has therefore become a fundamental part in medical research as they can be derived from more common cells such as skin or blood cells. The discovery was awarded with the Nobel Prize in 2012.

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