Patent ID: 8513012

Claim:
A method of preparing human mast cells by culturing human pluripotent cells in vitro comprising the steps of: a) culturing human pluripotent cells under conditions that promote differentiation of the cells into hematopoietic progenitor cells or megakaryocytes, to provide a first cell population comprising hematopoietic precursors or megakaryocytes; and b) culturing the first cell population under conditions that promote the differentiation into mast cells, to provide a second cell population comprising mast cells; wherein the step (a) culturing step does not employ a co-culture with murine fetal liver-derived stromal cells as a feeder layer; wherein the step (b) culturing step comprises culturing the cells in a media comprising stem cell factor; further wherein the pluripotent cells are cultured in a media comprising TPO.