There has been continued substantial interest from both scientists and the public in the therapeutic and scientific potential of stem cells since the first isolation of human embryonic stem cells (hESC) in 1998.1 Pluripotent hESCs derived from the inner cell mass of preimplantation embryos following fertilisation in vitro (IVF) have been well studied, and proposed not only as potentially useful in treating degenerative diseases, but invaluable clinically relevant alternatives to animal models for studying early development, and for identifying novel pharmaceuticals with high throughput drug screens in vitro.2 In addition, due to ethical controversy surrounding the use of embryos in stem cell research, there has been a paradigm shift in some research groups who have reported alternative methods of obtaining embryonic stem-like cells without the use of embryos. Most recently there has been some enthusiasm for exploring the use of induced pluripotent stem cells (iPS) which may be able to be derived from somatic cells by manipulation of transcription factors.3 The derivation, culture and characterisation of hESC are currently a labour intensive and time consuming process. Emerging tissue engineering technology such as robotic control of culture will overcome such hurdles and facilitate the scale-up needed for clinical therapies.
