Patent ID: 8546139

Claim:
A method of screening a compound for an effect on a hepatocyte lineage cell in cell culture, comprising: a. contacting the cell culture with the compound; and b. observing a change in morphology, marker phenotype or metabolic activity in the hepatocyte lineage cells in the cell culture and correlating the change in morphology, marker phenotype or metabolic activity with the compound, wherein the cell culture comprises hepatocyte lineage cells that are the progeny of an in vitro cell culture comprising non-malignant primate pluripotent stem cells which express stage-specific embryonic antigen 3 (SSEA3), stage-specific embryonic antigen 4 (SSEA4), the antigen recognized by antibody Tra-1-60 (Tra-1-60) and the antigen recognized by antibody Tra-1-81 (Tra-1-81), and wherein greater than 50% of the cells in the culture are positive for glycogen storage.