Soft substrate promotes pluripotent stem cell culture

Researchers have found a key to keeping stem cells in their neutral state: It takes a soft touch. The researchers demonstrated that culturing mouse embryonic stem cells on a soft gel rather than on a hard plate or dish keeps them in their pluripotent state, a ground state with the ability to become any type of tissue. The soft substrate maintains homogeneous pluripotent colonies over long periods of time -- without the need for expensive growth chemicals.

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