Patent ID: 6929948

Claim:
A method for generating a culture that is purified or enriched in neural progenitor cells, comprising: (i) introducing into a pluripotent cell a selectable marker that is differentially expressed in neural progenitor cells compared with its expression in other cells, wherein neural progenitor cells constitute a sub-set of the cells obtainable from the pluripotent cell, and wherein expression of the selectable marker is under the control of a Sox gene promoter; (ii) culturing the pluripotent cell in vitro to induce differentiation of the pluripotent cell into a neural progenitor cell or into a mixture of cells including neural progenitor cells, or to induce preferential survival, in a mixed culture of cells, of neural progenitor cells; and (iii) selecting for neural progenitor cells according to differential expression of the selectable marker introduced in step (i).