Stem Cell Isolation, Culture, Differentiation, and Characterization
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Products by Stem Cell Type | Organoids & 3D Culture | Featured Products | Related Research Areas | Custom Services | Regenerative Medicine | Resources | About Stem Cells
Browse below to see our comprehensive range of stem cell and organoid resources, or search for your research target or product in the search bar above. Can't find what your looking for? Contact us and we will be happy to help.
Hematopoietic Stem Cells
Hematopoietic Stem Cells
- HSC media and supplements at R&D Systems
- Lineage depletion antibody panels at R&D Systems
- HSC multicolor flow cytometry kit
- Methylcellulose reagents for CFC assays
- Cytokines and growth factors, including Flt-3 Ligand, IL-3, SCF, and Thrombopoietin
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell Markers
- Small molecules for HSC research at Tocris
Featured Products for Stem Cell Culture and Differentiation
Cultrex™ UltiMatrix RGF Basement Membrane Extract
Cultrex™ UltiMatrix RGF Basement Membrane Extract
- Designed for organoid and stem cell culture
- Protein composition and tensile strength optimized for 3D applications
- Qualified for dome formation
New! ExCellerate™ GMP iPSC Expansion Medium
New! ExCellerate™ GMP iPSC Expansion Medium
- Completely animal-free
- All-in-one formulation
- Stable cell integrity over long term culture
Animal-Free GMP BMP‑4
Animal-Free GMP BMP‑4
- Equivalent bioactivity to our other BMP-4 proteins
- Animal-free for clinical manufacturing processes
- Backed by our quality standards and facility certifications. See GMP Capabilities
Why Use Bio-Techne Reagents for Culturing Stem Cells?
Our mission is to facilitate discovery and translation by ensuring high performance and lot-to-lot consistency of our products. Consistency is key to minimizing variability and standardizing protocols.
Don’t take it from us, listen as Stem Cell Core Facility Directors describe why they prefer Bio-Techne proteins and small molecules for their cultures!
Serum-Free and Animal-Free Cell Culture
Increase the consistency of your cell cultures as you approach translational studies for regenerative medicine and cell therapy programs. Adopting these media will
- Reduce variability in media composition
- Simplify compliance with regulatory guidelines
- Simplify comparability testing for raw material changes
CEPT Cocktail for Improved Cell Survival
Improve stem cell survival with our small molecule CEPT cocktail. A combination of 4 small molecules, Chroman 1, Emricasan, Lyophilized Polyamine Supplement and Trans-ISRIB, the CEPT cocktail enhances the viability of stem cells during passaging, single cell cloning, gene-editing, cryopreservation, and differentiation and can be used in the manufacture of organoids for use in disease modeling or drug screening.
Animal-Free Recombinant Proteins
Ensure a seamless transition from preclinical research into clinical manufacturing by starting your preclinical experiments with our Animal-Free RUO proteins. R&D SystemsTM Animal-Free RUO proteins are produced in dedicated animal-free laboratories and are manufactured using the same systems as our Animal-Free GMP-Grade proteins.
Custom Services for Stem Cell Research
The multitude of potential stem cell preparations and applications means that the exact product you need for your research may not be available. If you can’t find what you need, our expert scientists and custom services team are here to help. We will work with you to deliver reagents and assays to meet your requirements. Whether it’s as simple as a change in formulation or a completely new product, take advantage of our resources and expertise to overcome your challenge.
Streamlining Translation for Regenerative Medicine
When it’s time to advance your regenerative medicine product to clinical manufacturing, partner with us for reliability, quality, and custom services. We will work with you to provide reproducible production of reagents and assays at clinical scale, with complete documentation. We offer GMP reagents as well as 21 CFR Part 11-compliant analytical instruments for automation and high throughput, including high sensitivity multiplex immunoassays for stem cell characterization with our Simple Western™, Single-Cell Western, and Simple Plex™ product lines. We’re committed to helping you streamline the manufacture of regenerative medicine products.
Website Stem Cell Resources
Webinars
- View all Bio-Techne Stem Cell Webinars
- Advancing the Culture and Clonogenic Analysis of Gastrointestinal Stem Cells at R&D Systems
- Isolation and Culture of Primary Cells from Bone Marrow
- Regenerative Medicine using iPSCs
Protocols
- View all Stem Cell Protocols
- Stem Cell Protocols at R&D Systems
- Protocols for Stem Cells at Tocris
Blogs
Stem Cell eBooks
- Technical Guide: Basement Membrane Basics at R&D Systems
- Evolution of Cell Culture Models eBook at R&D Systems
- Next-Generation Analytical Solutions For Cell & Gene Therapy eBook at ProteinSimple
- Stem Cell Analysis: Advances in Western Blotting Technologies eBook
Stem Cell Literature
- Cultrex™ Matrices for Stem Cell Culture Flyer
- Unraveling the Signaling Web in Stem Cells for Regenerative Medicine with Simple Western
- Application Note: Assessing iPSC Colony Morphology Attributes
- Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Workflow Solutions Brochure at R&D Systems
- Stem Cell Workflow: Using Small Molecules Poster at Tocris
- Stem Cells and Differentiation Poster at Tocris
- Small Molecules for Stem Cell Research Product Guide
- Proteins for Stem Cell Culture Guide
- Technical Notes: Assessing the Pluripotent Status of Stem Cells at R&D Systems
- Differentiation potential of iPSC at R&D Systems
- Mending the Myocardium: Tracking Cardiomyocyte Differentiation with Single-Cell Westerns
- Hematopoietic Colony Identification Guide Wall Poster
Stem Cell-related Tools
Stem Cell Pathways
- Hedgehog Signaling Pathway
- TGF-β Signaling Pathway
- Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cell Differentiation Pathways & Lineage-specific Markers (at R&D Systems)
- Mesenchymal Stem Cell Differentiation Pathways & Lineage-specific Markers (at R&D Systems)
- Neural Stem Cell Differentiation Pathways & Lineage-specific Markers (at R&D Systems)
- Hematopoietic Stem Cell Differentiation Pathways & Lineage-specific Markers (at R&D Systems)
I have been using R&D / Bio-Techne perhaps for the last maybe 20 years, ever since I was a graduate student. My lab would exclusively use R&D products. I've found R&D / Bio-Techne to be extremely reliable.
The Bio-Techne products that we’re using, we love and what we're using are cytokines, growth factors and we have been using them since the beginning. I mean our core started in 2008 and we really have not changed.
So in our stem cell core facility, we do a lot of differentiation into different progenies. For all this differentiation we use a number of different cytokines, growth factors and we buy them all from R&D Systems or Tocris.
We had very good experience with R&D cytokines as well as antibodies. We didn't find any lot-to-lot variation with the cytokines and antibodies. So, in general, we're very pleased.
The product, the reproducibility has been consistent, and we've seen that everything works, everything is good, and now a lot of the products we buy and we don't lot test and we haven't had issues. Everything has been excellent and has worked beautifully.
About Stem Cells
The defining characteristics of stem cells, i.e. their ability to self-renew and differentiate, make them a valuable resource in medical research and therapy. Directed differentiation of stem cells can provide insights into embryonic development, generate organ-like structures (organoids), and help us understand complex disease processes.
Stem cells are unspecialized cells that are capable of self-renewal through mitotic cell division, even after long periods of inactivity. Stem cell differentiation gives rise to the endoderm, ectoderm, and mesoderm germ layers which develop into the specialized cells of a tissues and organs.
Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are found in the inner cell mass of blastocysts, adult (or somatic) stem cells maintain the populations of specific cell types, induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are produced by the reprogramming of somatic cells, and cancer stem cells (CSCs) reside in tissues where they give rise to local tumors. Hematopoietic stem cells (HSC) differentiate into the myeloid and lymphoid immune cell lineages. Multipotent mesenchymal stem cells (MSC) give rise to adipocytes, chondrocytes, osteocytes, and cardiomyocytes. Neural stem cells (NSC) can differentiate into neurons, astrocytes, and oligodendrocytes.
Owing to their tissue regenerative potential, stem cells can be utilized to repair or replace old or damaged cells, and this property is valuable in regenerative medicine. Stem cells offer the potential for treating many diseases including cancer, neurodegeneration, musculoskeletal disorders, heart disease, and diabetes. 3-dimensional cultures and organoids based on differentiated stem cells reproduce some functions of native tissues and are valuable for toxicology studies and drug discovery.
Totipotent stem cells: generate all the cell types in the organism (e.g., zygote or fertilized egg).
Pluripotent stem cells: generate all the embryonic germ layers (i.e. endoderm, ectoderm and mesoderm), but are unable to generate extra-embryonic tissues (i.e. placenta). Best exemplified by embryonic stem cells (ESCs) which are derived from the inner cell mass of the blastocyst. Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are reprogrammed from adult differentiated cells (e.g., fibroblasts, peripheral blood mononuclear cells).
Multipotent stem cells: generate a limited number of cell types based on their tissue of origin.
Mesenchymal stem cells- give rise to fat, bone, muscle and cartilage.
Hematopoietic stem cells- give rise to different types of blood cells (i.e. platelets, red and white cells).
Neural stem cells- give rise to neurons, oligodendrocytes and astrocytes.
Oligopotent stem cells: generate few cell types which are closely related (e.g., myeloid stem cells).
Unipotent stem cells: generate one cell type (e.g., epidermal stem cells, muscle stem cells).
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