Patent ID: 8153427

Claim:
A method for producing a culture of cardiomyocytes, comprising: A) Providing a culture of stem cells that are at least 90% confluent or the cells have overgrown to form multiple layers of cells, or proliferating stem cells until the cells are at least 90% confluent or the cells have overgrown to form multiple layers of cells; B) Inducing formation of mesoderm by contacting the overgrown stem cells with a bone morphogenic protein (BMP) receptor ligand and an fibroblast growth factor (FGF) receptor ligand for a period of about 2 to 15 days; and C) promoting cardiomyocyte formation by contacting mesoderm cells with neural cells, or a neural cell conditioned culture supernatant, for a period of about 1 to 21 days, thereby producing a culture of cardiomyocytes.