The Department of Experimental Cardiology Laboratory considers the iCS-digital™ PSC to be an easy-to-implement genomic test, perfectly suited to regular in-process testing

What type of work does UMC Utrecht actually do with human induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs)?

We generate cell lines harboring genetic diseases by collecting donor cells from large families that have inherent cardiomyopathies. We differentiate our cells towards cardiomyocytes and make organoids. During
the last 5 years, we have generated over 20 individual lines with multiple clones.

What made you use the iCS-digital™ PSC test as part of your QC?

A couple of years ago, we had been confidently working on a cell line for quite a few passages when it showed the absence of the Y chromosome after sequencing. This was a big revelation for us and it triggered a more
rigorous genomic stability testing protocol within our lab. We contacted Stem Genomics and selected iCS-digital™ PSC to test routinely. We also decided to test after the generation of a new line. Since establishing
this QC strategy, we realized that the 20q appears very often. We really did not expect it to be present so frequently! This led us to implement iCS-digital™ PSC every 10 passages.

Why would you recommend using Stem Genomics’ iCS-digital™ PSC assay?

The Stem Genomics team is very helpful and the test is super easy to implement! You isolate DNA, ship it in an envelope and get results back a week later. We used to wait for months to get G-Banding results as we were dependent on other departments. The iCS-digital™ PSC gave us the independence we needed to streamline our processes: it is faster, cheaper than G-Banding and we don’t need as many cells to perform each test.