The high cost of producing and validating induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs or iPS cells) makes them inaccessible for many researchers. This has necessitated the creation of cell banks that can provide high-quality iPSCs to researchers who would otherwise be unable to produce and characterize these cells within their own laboratories. Importantly, the use of human iPSCs for drug screening can circumvent cross-species differences before drugs are moved into clinical trials. Of course, iPSCs are also being leveraged for a wide range of other applications, including disease modeling, toxicology testing, cell therapy, personalized medicine, clean meat production, 3D printing, and beyond. [Read more…]