Stepping Up the Potential: Isolating Human Cells from Mouse/Human Chimeras with StemCell Technologies' StemSep

Indirect magnetic labeling for separation of murine cells. Image provided by StemCell Technologies

Hematopoietic stem cells are defined by their ability to self-renew and to differentiate into all blood cell lineages. Human stem cell populations are frequently tested by their ability to populate the hematopoietic systems of immunodeficient strains. "The analysis of mice transplanted with human hematopoietic cells is essential to assess the hematopoietic long-term populating potential of the transplanted cells," explains Albrecht Muller, Max-Planck Institut für Immunbiologie, Germany. "If a detailed analysis requires pure human cells from the mice transplanted with human hematopoietic stem cells, then one would have to separate the human cells from the endogenous murine cells," adds Muller.

That's where StemCell Technologies, Inc., comes in. This Vancouver-based company has recently expanded its StemSep line of cell selection products to include a system for the isolation of human cells from murine/human chimeric mice. There are...