Developing iPSC ion channel recordings with automated patch clamp

Induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) techniques have been developing over the last few years, improving cell differentiation and maturation. In combination with improved culturing and handling, iPSC ion channel recordings via automated patch clamp (APC) have made these model ‘adult’ differentiated cells extremely useful in biomedical research, more translatable in defining human physiology and disease, whilst reducing the need and use of animal tissue.

Over 2022, Sophion scientists, collaborators, and users of our platforms have been at the forefront of this iPSC and APC revolution. Our collaborative research is captured here:

Webinars

Mike Hendrickson (BrainXell) & Daniel Sauter on iPSC-motor neurons:

Liz Buttermore (Human Neuron Core, Boston Children’s Hospital) & Kadla Rosholm on iPSC-cortical neurons:

Will Seibertz (University Medical Center Göttingen) & Kadla Rosholm on iPSC-cardiomyocytes:

Review paper

Adventures and Advances in Time Travel With Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells and Automated Patch Clamp. Rosholm et al., Frontiers Mol. Neurosci., 2022: view

Are you interested in learning more about the research performed on Sophion automated patch clamp platforms and stem cells? We have gathered a list of relevant publications here

Sophions third webinar on APC and iPSC. Did you miss it?

The discovery that it is possible to restore pluripotency to adult somatic human cells has revolutionized the field of biological science and regenerative medicine.

With Sophion’s automated patch technology, we have been able to record cardiac voltage-gated ion channel currents (INa, ICa, IKr, IK1) in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes (hiPSC-CM), with up to 50% success rates and paced action potentials in up to 20% of recorded cells.

Last week, guest speaker Fitzwilliam Seibertz from University Medical Center Göttingen and Kadla Røskva Rosholm from Sophion Bioscience gave a joint presentation on their latest research in manual and automated patch clamp measurements of IK1 currents in hiPSC-CM, a current that is often lacking in ‘immature’ hiPSC-CM.

You find the recording here:

Sign up for our next webinar

You can now sign up for our next webinar on Automated Patch Clamp and iPSC. In this webinar, we will be focusing on manual and automated patch clamp measurements of IK1 currents in human induced pluripotent stem cell-derived cardiomyocytes.

Guest speaker Fitzwilliam Seibertz from the University Center Göttingen will join us to give a presentation on ‘Differentiation of induced pluripotent stem cells into cardiomyocytes with a focus on maturity-induced IK1 development’.

This is followed by Sophion’s iPSC expert, Kadla Røskva Rosholm, who will take us through recent Sophion data on the electrophysiological characterization of hiPSC-derived CMs, including voltage-gated IK1 currents and action potential measurements, using automated patch clamp.

Read more and register for the webinar here

Did you miss our second webinar on APC and iPSC from last week?

Research in iPSC holds huge promise for drug discovery. With Sophion’s automated patch technology, we can begin to understand the functional changes taking place in neurons with loss of CDKL5 function.

Last week, guest speaker Elizabeth Buttermore, from Boston Children’s Hospital and Kadla Røskva Rosholm, from Sophion Bioscience presented in collaboration their latest research on cellular, molecular and electrophysiological characterization of CDKL5 deficiency disorder iPSC-derived neurons.

From all over the world, we were happy to see so many engaged and interested participants.

You can see the recorded webinar below:

Webinar: Automated Patch Clamping and iPSC Part II

We now have our next webinar on Automated Patch Clamp and iPSC planned.

Drug discovery in neuroscience faces many unique challenges, including access to the central nervous system through the blood-brain barrier and complex biology and circuitry that is still being defined. In order to overcome these challenges to identify treatments for neurodevelopmental disorders, scientists need better preclinical data.

One requirement for improved preclinical data is a robust model system. Recent advances in stem cell technology have allowed for the creation of stem cells from patient skin or blood cells, called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). These patient-derived iPSCs can then be differentiated into neurons to model how a patient mutation causes changes in neuronal function compared with a healthy control neuron, followed by testing of therapeutics for reversal of these in vitro phenotypes. This strategy has already successfully transitioned from the bench to the clinic for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). We have recently used this technology to better understand the cellular and molecular consequences of loss of CDKL5 in iPSC-derived neurons.

With Sophion’s automated patch technology, we can begin to understand the functional changes taking place in neurons with loss of CDKL5 function. Together, these model systems and technologies can be used to screen for and identify novel therapeutic targets for neurodevelopmental disorders.

In this webinar, Elizabeth Buttermore from Boston Children’s Hospital and Kadla R Rosholm from Sophion will give a joint presentation titled: Cellular, molecular and electrophysiological characterization of CDKL5 deficiency disorder in iPSC-derived neurons.

iPSC-derived cortical neurons characterized with Qube 384

With the high throughput and recording fidelity of Qube, it was possible to characterize the ion channel populations in iPSC-derived cortical neurons. 60-70% of cells expressed Nav-current and 60-80% expressed Kv-current. Biophysical as well as pharmacological tools were employed to characterize these currents and the phenotypes were compared between a CDKL5 Deficiency Disorder and isogenic control. Click here to see the poster.

iPSC-derived motor neurons on Qube and QPatch

High success rates and significant differences in diseased versus control cells from Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis and Spinal Muscular Atrophy patients open for a whole new role for automated patch clamp in relation to neurological diseases. BrainXell has provided cells enabling this work.

Read the report here.