Undifferentiated pluripotent stem cells have the potential for unlimited expansion with the retention of normal karyotype and the ability to generate cells of all three germ layers. Because of this ability, the use of human embryonic stem cells (ES cells) and human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS cells) has been proposed in clinical applications, as systems for drug screening and toxicity and as a tool to study cellular and developmental biology. STEMCELL Technologies offers a range of highly specialized cell culture media optimized for reprogramming, culture, differentiation and cryopreservation of ES cells and iPS cells.

In culture, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) are defined as plastic-adherent, fibroblast-like cells which are able to self-renew and differentiate into bone, adipose and cartilage tissue. STEMCELL Technologies provides a range of products for the enrichment, quantification, expansion and differentiation of human and mouse mesenchymal stem cells.

Neurons, the functional unit of the central nervous system, are responsible for forming connections and are the communicating cells of the nervous system. STEMCELL Technologies provides serum-free media, supplements and accessory products for the culture and characterization of primary neurons.

The human bronchial epithelium is a ciliated pseudostratified columnar epithelium comprising multiple cell types, including ciliated cells, goblet (mucus-secreting) cells and basal cells. When cultured as a submerged monolayer, bronchial epithelial cells fail to show significant mucociliary differentiation. The air-liquid interface (ALI) culture system has been shown to be a more physiologically relevant culture system because it results in bronchial epithelial cells acquiring a fully differentiated mucociliary phenotype which closely models the human airway. PneumaCult™-ALI is a defined, serum- and BPE-free medium optimized for differentiation of human bronchial epithelial cells cultured at the air-liquid interface.

Mammary epithelial cells have been shown to consist of luminal and myoepithelial cells and more recently have been shown to contain stem and progenitor cells capable of replenishing the more differentiated cell types. STEMCELL Technologies offers a variety of specialized and defined media for culture of human and mouse mammary epithelial cells.  MammoCult™ is used for the culture of human mammary primary cells and cell lines as mammospheres and tumorspheres. EpiCult™-B cell culture media are used for culture, identification and enumeration of human and mouse mammary epithelial progenitors.

There is evidence to suggest that the prostate epithelium is composed of a hierarchy of cells that spans from prostate stem cells to progenitor cells to terminally differentiated cell types. STEMCELL Technologies has developed ProstaCult Medium for the culture of mouse prostate epithelial cells in the prostate colony-forming cell assay (Pr-CFC).