Isolation of inner cell mass for the establishment of human embryonic stem cell (hESC) lines

Patent Number: 7,294,508

Although the WARF/Geron patents have attracted much attention in recent history, many forget about the large embryonic stem cell patent portfolios that are being issued to institutions in countries such as Israel and India. The current patent, issued to the Indian stem cell giant Reliance, covers a method of generating embryonic stem cells that is significantly different then those covered by WARF/Geron.

The patent covers the generation of ES cells by the four steps described in the first independent claim which are:

(a) purifying to a substantially higher degree of purity a blastocyst which contains a zona pellucida, a trophectoderm, and an inner cell mass;

(b) creating an aperture in the blastocyst by laser ablation;

© isolating cells from the inner cell mass from the blastocyst through the aperture; and

(d) culturing the cells to establish a cell line.

View this patent on the USPTO website.