EMBRYONIC STEM CELLS/INDUCED PLURIPOTENT STEM CELLS Reprogramming of Human Fibroblasts to Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells under Xeno-free Conditions

The availability of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) has created extraordinary opportunities for modeling and perhaps treating human disease. However, all reprogram-ming protocols used to date involve the use of products of animal origin. Here, we set out to develop a protocol to generate and maintain human iPSC that would be entirely devoid of xenobiotics. We first developed a xeno-free cell culture media that supported the long-term propagation of human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) to a similar extent as conventional media containing animal origin products or commercially available xeno-free medium. We also derived primary cultures of human dermal fibroblasts under strict xeno-free conditions (XF-HFF), and we show that they can be used as both the cell source for iPSC generation as wel