Merck Millipore Launches PluriSTEM™ Human ES/iPS Medium for the Expansion of Human Embryonic and Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells

• Enables routine expansion of cells in feeder-free and serum-free conditions
• Supports less frequent feeding and cell culture time, saving time and research costs
• Supports efficient single cell passaging of human ES/iPS cells
• Includes small molecule inhibitors, pluripotent specific growth factors and supplements

June 12, 2013, Darmstadt, Germany — Merck Millipore, the Life Science division of Merck, today announced the availability of its PluriSTEM™ Human ES/iPS Medium for the routine expansion of human embryonic and induced pluripotent stem cells in feeder- and serum-free conditions with less frequent feeding and cell culture time. It is the first human ES/iPS media to combine small molecule inhibitors with pluripotent specific growth factors and supplements to enable a less rigorous cell culture regiment. These features save researchers time and lead to lower costs.

The medium consists of fourteen components and is fully defined. The proprietary formulation includes Activin-A, TGFβ1, and b-FGF to promote stem cell self-renewal and potent small molecule combinations to inhibit unwanted spontaneous differentiation, as well as human serum albumin (HSA) to aid in overall colony morphology.

The culture of human ES/iPS cells has traditionally required feeding every day, including weekends, as well as significant technical expertise. This new medium addresses these challenges by providing an efficient and robust culture method that allows for feeding every other day, excluding weekends, saving both time and money. It also provides high viability and proliferation rates in single cell passaging.

"One of the main difficulties of traditional pluripotent stem cell culture is the time and expense required to achieve a successful undifferentiated culture. Our new PluriSTEM™ medium addresses this challenge by offering a simpler, less time-consuming culturing method," Nick Asbrock, Stem Cell Product Manager in Merck Millipore’s Bioscience business unit. "With the addition of the new medium to our stem cell product portfolio, Merck Millipore now offers a complete workflow solution for human ES and iPS culture systems, including proprietary reprogramming technologies, differentiation, and expansion media and kits for stem cell characterization."

For more information, please visit www.merckmillipore.com/pluristem.

About Merck Millipore
Merck Millipore is the Life Science division of Merck KGaA of Germany and offers a broad range of innovative, performance products, services and business relationships that enable our customers’ success in research, development and production of biotech and pharmaceutical drug therapies. Through dedicated collaboration on new scientific and engineering insights, and as one of the top three R&D investors in the Life Science Tools industry, Merck Millipore serves as a strategic partner to customers and helps advance the promise of life science.

Headquartered in Billerica, Massachusetts, the division has around 10,000 employees, operations in 66 countries and 2012 revenues of €2.6 billion Merck Millipore operates as EMD Millipore in the U.S. and Canada.

Note: Merck KGaA or Merck shall mean Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany