What is the Process to Bank iPSC?
There are three common situations in which IPSC biobanking can be accomplished:
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Before an expectant delivery.
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From cord blood already privately banked.
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From peripheral blood obtained from a venipuncture.
Before an expectant delivery.
If parents desire to produce a personalized iPSC for an expectant child, we recommend that parents first store their cord blood with a reputable private cord blood bank. Once the cord blood is banked, parents can later consider having a sample of cord blood shipped to our facility for conversion into a personalized iPSC and stored. CET does NOT make recommendations on any private cord blood bank. Parents need to conduct their own due diligence. If a parent later chooses to create a personalized iPSC, then CET will obtain permission from the client and work with the cord blood bank and obtain a small sample of cord blood to produce a personalized iPSC.
From cord blood already privately banked.
If parents already have privately stored cord blood at a bank, CET will work with that company to obtain a sample of cord blood to produce a personalized iPSC of a parent's child. CET will produce and store the individual's IPSC for future use.
From peripheral blood obtained from a venipuncture.
For clients under the age of 40 who did not privately bank their cord blood, CET will work directly with the client and their family physician to obtain a sample of peripheral blood. CET will arrange to have the peripheral blood shipped to its facility for production and storage of personalized iPSC.
What are the basic steps for producing an iPSC from cord blood or peripheral blood?
It generally requires 5-10 cc of whole blood to begin with.
1. Blood is shipped to your facility. The blood is then subjected to cell purification protocols steps to isolate a specific type of white cells called mononuclear cells (MNC).
2. MNC are then exposed to a special formula for 1 week to stimulate the number of hematopoietic stem cells called CD34+ cells.
3. Next, CD34+ cells are treated with a panel of proprietary genes and chemicals to produce the first round of cultured iPSC, a process that takes an additional 2 weeks.
4. After the first round iPSC that is created, cells are then treated with a special proprietary formula to grow or expand the number of iPSC to produce millions of cells. This latter process takes 1 additional month.
5. iPSC are then validated for their purity and health and confirmed that the cells are free of bacteria contamination.
6. Several vials of master stock containing 10 million iPSC are stored in cryofreezers. Thus, the entire process takes approximately 2-3 months.