Suspension bioreactor expansion of undifferentiated human embryonic stem cells

Embryonic stem cells (ESCs) are unique cells, which have the ability to differentiate into all cell types that comprise the adult organism. Furthermore, ESCs can infinitely self-renew under optimized conditions. These features place human ESCs (hESCs) in a position where these cells can be exploited for tissue engineering and regenerative medicine approaches in treating human degenerative disorders. However, cell therapy approaches will require large amounts of clinically useable cells, not typically achievable using standard static cell culture methods. Here, we describe a method wherein clinically relevant numbers of hESCs can be generated in a cost and time effective manner.