Find and replace: editing human genome in pluripotent stem cells

Genetic manipulation of human pluripotent stem cells (hPSCs) provides a powerful tool for modeling diseases and developing future medicine. Recently a number of independent genome-editing techniques were developed, including plasmid, bacterial artificial chromosome, adeno-associated virus vector, zinc finger nuclease, transcription activator-like effecter nuclease, and helper-dependent adenoviral vector. Gene editing has been successfully employed in different aspects of stem cell research such as gene correction, mutation knock-in, and establishment of reporter cell lines (Raya et al., 2009; Howden et al., 2011; Li et al., 2011; Liu et al., 2011b; Papapetrou et al., 2011; Sebastiano et al., 2011; Soldner et al., 2011; Zou et al., 2011a). These techniques combined with the utility of hPSCs will significantly influence the area of regenerative medicine.