Patent ID: 8658352

Claim:
A method of identifying a compound that modulates proliferation and/or differentiation of pluripotent stem cells, the method comprising: culturing the pluripotent stem cells in a cell medium comprising a basal salt nutrient solution, an ErbB3 ligand, and a candidate compound, wherein the cell medium is essentially free of serum, wherein the pluripotent stem cells can give rise to all three germ layers, and wherein the ErbB3 ligand can bind to an ErbB3 receptor, which in turn dimerizes with an ErbB2 receptor to form an ErbB2/ErbB3 heterodimer, thereby activating the tyrosine kinase activity of the ErbB2 receptor in the ErbB2/ErbB3 heterodimer; determining whether an increase or decrease in proliferation and/or differentiation occurs in the pluripotent stem cells cultured with the compound relative to a control, wherein the increase or decrease indicates that the compound modulates proliferation and/or differentiation of the pluripotent stem cells.