By Yusuke Tomiyama

Yomiuri Shimbun Staff Writer

Kyoto University's CiRA Foundation and Itochu Corp. announced Friday that they have jointly developed a specialized kit to produce patient-derived iPS cells using fully automated culture devices.

The kit, which was developed through the foundation's My iPS Project, comprises multiple pouches (each approximately 1.5 to 2 liters) containing the necessary reagents, additives and other substances to produce the cells.

The development streamlines part of the production process and is expected to reduce costs.

According to Itochu, the pouches, which connect to the device, are highly sealed and facilitate automated cell culture without exposing the cells to the external environment. The foundation, which is led by Shinya Yamanaka, plans to begin supplying the kit to its collaborative research partners within the current fiscal year ending March 2026.

Producing iPS cells manually costs approximately 50 million yen per person. The foundation aims to reduce this to about 1 million yen per person by automating processes, including through the introduction of the kit.

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This article is from The Yomiuri Shimbun. Neither Dow Jones Newswires, MarketWatch, Barron's nor The Wall Street Journal were involved in the creation of this content.

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September 08, 2025 04:29 ET (08:29 GMT)

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