Improving the freezing conditions for iPSC-derived Brain-like Microvascular Endothelial Cell

The rising trend in drug delivery studies is to humanize blood-brain barrier models under in vitro conditions using human-stem cell-based approaches. Differentiation of brain-like microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) from induced pluripotent stem cells is the first step of this methodology, and there are a variety of studies concentrating on this perspective. With this purpose, iPSC-derived BMECs (iBMECs) are differentiated and utilized freshly to obtain the best response by iBMECs because they tend to lose their ability the maintain barrier integrity on time, and they are not able to proliferate after being differentiated. In this step, we aim to improve the freezing method for iBMECs to preserve them healthy, longer, and with a similar feature to freshly differentiated iBMECs. In this context, the PURE interns who will work on this project at Mustafaoglu Lab, will learn how to culture, maintain, and preserve iPSCs in cell culture. Additionally, they will be trained for iBMEC differentiation, immunostaining, and integrity analysis methodologies.