ABSTRACT
Teratoma formation remains a safety concern in therapeutic cell populations derived from human-induced pluripotent stem cells (hiPSCs). Teratoma forming cells are present in small numbers and rare cell isolations are often difficult using standard flow cytometry sorting techniques. Here, we first characterized time-dependent expression of a teratoma marker stage-specific embryonic antigen (SSEA)-5, which binds the H type-1 glycan during neural differentiation of hiPSCs. We next engineered a microfluidic geometrically enhanced differential immunocapture (GEDI) device to remove SSEA5+ rare cells from hiPSC-derived neural progenitor cells. The GEDI device presents a facile tool to potentially functionalize with multiple antibodies and robustly enhance hiPSC-derived cell population safety prior to therapeutic transplantation.