Patent ID: 8211698

Claim:
A method of producing a population of neuronal progenitor cells, comprising: a) culturing embryonic stem cells, sourced from totipotent cells, in a growth medium comprising basic fibroblast growth factor (b(FGF) or fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2) and retinoic acid for a period of about 1-7 days, wherein the growth medium is without animal serum and without bone morphogenic proteins BMP4 and BMP7; b) culturing the cell population of step a) in suspension (non-adherent conditions) in a growth medium for an additional period of about 5-10 days wherein the growth medium comprises basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF) or fibroblast growth factor 2 (FGF2), to form aggregates comprising isolated neuronal progenitor cells, wherein the growth medium is without animal serum and without bone morphogenic proteins BMP4 and BMP and wherein the medium is changed one or more times every 12 to 72 hours or provided by a continuous flow system, thereby producing a cell population in which at least 75% of the cells are neuronal progenitor cells; and c) identifying cells within the population that express pax6 and nestin, and NeuN and Tuj1, wherein at least 90% of the population of human neural progenitor cells express Pax6 and nestin and also express at least one of NeuN and Tuj1.