Synthetic polymer coatings for long-term growth of human embryonic stem cells

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Abstract
The development of fully defined culture conditions for human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) should enhance experimental reproducibility, reduce unwanted contaminants and facilitate scale-up production. Villa-Diaz et al. show that a substrate made of the synthetic polymer PMEDSAH supports long-term culture of hESCs. We report a fully defined synthetic polymer coating, poly[2-(methacryloyloxy)ethyl dimethyl-(3-sulfopropyl)ammonium hydroxide] (PMEDSAH), which sustains long-term human embryonic stem (hES) cell growth in several different culture media, including commercially available defined media. The development of a standardized, controllable and sustainable culture matrix for hES cells is an essential step in elucidating mechanisms that control hES cell behavior and in optimizing conditions for biomedical applications of hES cells.