Transgene-Free Disease-Specific iPSC Generation from Fibroblasts and Peripheral Blood Mononuclear Cells

Abstract Induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) offer great promise as tools for basic biomedical research, disease modeling, and drug screening. In this chapter, we describe the generation of patient-specific, transgene-free iPSCs from skin biopsies and peripheral blood mononuclear cells through electroporation of episomal vectors and growth under two different culture conditions. The resulting iPSC lines are characterized with respect to pluripotency marker expression through immunostaining, tested for transgene integration by PCR, and assayed for differentiation capacity via teratoma formation.