Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) are commonly used research tools for
disease modeling, drug discovery, and regenerative medicine. Regenerative
medicine relies on cells to create or induce regeneration of dysfunctional or
damaged tissues and organs. In the field of iPSC research, existing markers used
to assess differentiation state are limited and consist mainly of internal
molecular markers (e.g. gene expression levels of key transcription factors). For
example, while sp ecific protein and gene expression markers are used t o
monitor hepatocyte differentiation from iPSCs, cell surface markers are lacking.
Methods to identify iPSC c ells at different stages of differentiation would
advance regenerative medicine research by providing an accurate and
non-destructive means to isolate target cells. Here, we demonstrate that
VisionSort can identify and isolate cells at different stages of in vitro hepatocyte
differentiation from iPSCs without relying on molecular markers.
