Gibco™ Essential 6™ Medium

Essential 6 Medium is a feeder-free and xeno-free medium that supports the reprogramming of somatic cells and the spontaneous or directed differentiation of human pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). In addition, Essential 6 Medium can be used as a base for custom media for the culture of PSCs. The formulation is based on a medium originally developed by Guokai Chen et. al. (1) in the laboratory of James Thomson and published as “E6.” With only six essential components, Essential 6 Medium helps minimize variability. To complete your workflow with a matching reduced-variability PSC culture medium developed by the same lab, use Essential 8 Medium.

Essential 6 Medium enables:

• Differentiation—does not contain bFGF, which inhibits differentiation
• Reprogramming—does not contain TGFβ, which has a negative effect on reprogramming efficiency
• Flexibility—provides a flexible format where the levels of TGFβ and bFGF can be adjusted and additional components can be added to match a given application

Differentiation
Unlike other media used in PSC culture, Essential 6 Medium does not contain bFGF or TGFβ. As such, Essential 6 Medium can support the formation of embryoid bodies. It has also been used as a base for the directed differentiation of various cell types in the endodermal, mesodermal, and ectodermal lineages (2), including motor neurons (3).

Reprogramming
Essential 6 Medium allows for defined and feeder-free reprogramming when used with bFGF. The formulation supports somatic cell reprogramming using a variety of methods, including episomal vectors (4) and CytoTune (Sendai virus), and is optimized to help ensure maximum cell health and pluripotency with minimal variability.

Flexibility
Essential 6 Medium is xeno-free and contains only the essential components needed for stem cell culture, minus bFGF and TGFβ. This provides a basal medium that will maximize cell health and pluripotency while allowing levels of TGFβ and bFGF to be adjusted and additional components to be added to match a given application.

Commercialized in partnership with Cellular Dynamics International.