Corning ® Synthemax ™ Surface: a tool for feeder-free, xeno-free culture of human embryonic stem cells

Currently, human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) are cultured on feeder cells or complex mixtures of proteins extracted from mouse tumors 1 , 2 . To allow commercialization of hESC-derived therapeutic cells, culture methods are required that are robust and scalable and that use chemically defined, xeno-free materials. Corning Synthemax Surface is a novel synthetic surface that permits consistent long-term self-renewal of multiple hESC lines in defined, xeno-free media and differentiation of cells to functional cardiomyocytes 3 .