The induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) market first emerged in 2006, when iPSC technology was pioneered by Shinya Yamanaka’s lab at Kyoto University in Japan. The shocking discovery that the introduction of four transcription factors into adult cells could convert them into pluripotent stem cells sent waves of excitement throughout the scientific community.

This landmark event came to represent one of the greatest stem cell research discoveries of all time and was memorialized in 2012, when Dr. Yamanaka and Sir John Gurdon were awarded the Nobel Prize “for the discovery that mature cells can be reprogrammed to become pluripotent.”

iPSC technology has since revolutionized how stem cells are derived, differentiated, and acquired in industrial quantities. It has also dramatically affected our understanding of how human cells and organisms develop.
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