The generation of embryoid bodies from feeder-based or feeder-free human pluripotent stem cell cultures.

Embryoid body (EB) formation is a traditional method of inducing differentiation of pluripotent stem cells (PSCs). It is a routine in vitro test of pluripotency as well as the first stage in many differentiation protocols targeted toward the production of a specific lineage or cellular population, as in neural differentiation (see Chapters 29 and 30). The induction of differentiation via EB formation is fairly straightforward. However, depending on the specific PSC culture conditions - substrate, feeders, medium, and eventual cell type of interest - various methods are applied in order to most routinely obtain healthy EB cultures.