Leiden hiPSC Centre

Are you looking for experts who can generate high quality hiPSCs, genetically modify your cells, provide you with widely used control lines, teach you how to culture and differentiate hiPSCs or give you advice on how to get ready to start your hiPSC project?
Our team was the first to generate hiPSCs in the Netherlands. Since then we have been developing a portfolio of state-of-the-art services and products for many local and international customers. Find out what we can do for you!

What can we help you with?

Services

Since 2011 the Leiden hiPSC Centre offers services for LUMC and external academic researchers based on the latest techniques:

generation and quality control (QC) of research-grade hiPSC lines from various primary cell types and with different vector systems
provision of extensively characterized ‘control’ hiPSC lines from apparently healthy donors
genetic modification of hiPSCs with CRISPR/Cas9 to generate small knockins (e.g. isogenic control hiPSCs), knockout, reporter hiPSCs or other
annual hands-on training courses

Equipment

We perform sterile cell culture in a standard BSL-2 lab equipped with three flow cabinets with built-in microscopes. For electroporation we either use the Invitrogen Neon Nxt system (Invitrogen) or the Amaxa 4D electroporator (Lonza). Our facility features an UP.SIGHT (Cytena) single cell dispenser and imager for cloning hiPSCs. For scaling up our throughput and to improve the standardization of workflows our equipment will be extended in 2027 by an automated system for hiPSC culture.

Pricing

Our facility runs on a non-profit basis. For financial sustainability our pricing covers salary costs, material costs and an overhead percentage for general costs such as lab space, energy etc. The required manual labor and materials for each service have been calculated and approved by a LUMC accountant. Prices might be subject to change and will be adjusted if necessary.

Note: Until further notice we are unable to provide services for commercial customers.

First time users

Would you like advice on how to start your hiPSC project, how to best equip your lab for hiPSC research or which cell culture media we recommend? Or would you like us to generate hiPSCs from patient material, genetically modify them for generating an isogenic control, receive one of our (genetically modified) control hiPSC lines or be trained in hiPSC culture? Contact us and let’s discuss what we can do for you!

Quality assurance

Our products and services are based on standard operating procedures which have been developed for more than 15 years and which are adjusted to the latest state-of-the-art techniques whenever possible.

The Leiden hiPSC Centre follows the International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) recommendations regarding donor consent and hiPSC quality control and several of the facility’s control hiPSC lines have been registered at the Human Pluripotent Stem Cell Registry (hPSCreg) assuring compliance with these international standards. Furthermore, the Leiden hiPSC Centre is an active member of several hiPSC facility networks such as PluriCore, COREdinates, CorEuStem where new technical developments (e.g. new reprogramming methods) are being discussed, experiences shared and procedures aligned. In this context the Leiden hiPSC Centre is currently testing and developing several techniques for improvement of hiPSC generation and their genetic modification. Annual network meetings are also being used for discussing and defining quality control standards for de novo generated hiPSCs as well as genetically modified lines. The publication of multiple hiPSC lines generated by us from patient samples in various peer-reviewed journals confirms that our quality standards are up to date.

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To maintain high-quality hands-on training, we regularly collect anonymous participant feedback. In addition to our successful standard training for researchers with limited hiPSC experience we are also developing new training modules for more advanced techniques.

To be able to cope with the expected higher demands for hiPSC generation and their genetic modification in 2027 the Leiden hiPSC Centre will implement an automated system for hiPSC maintenance culture with a possible upgrade for screening at a later stage. In addition to a higher throughput, we expect the system to reduce manual variability and a reduction in overall service costs.

In 2025 the Leiden hiPSC Centre conducted a survey amongst former and potential new customers to identify unmet (future) needs and service expectations. We plan to repeat such surveys regularly to be able to develop products and services accordingly.

About us

Our goal is to provide high-quality research-grade cells and services with reasonable but realistic delivery times, so that you can carry out your hiPSC research as effectively and as quickly as possible.

We consider each project as unique and therefore look for the best possible solution together with you.

We find clear communication with our customers essential and strive for transparency. This includes an initial consultation followed by the official submission of your service request. You will then receive a service agreement with the terms and conditions and pricing. During an ongoing service you will receive progress updates. Should modifications in the initial experimental strategy become necessary (e.g. due to the genetic background of a patient sample which makes it hard to reprogram or a sgRNA which turns out to be inefficient) we will discuss this with you upfront. Upon completion of our service you will receive a QC report and the necessary SOP’s to start your hiPSC research.

Contact

For more information or service requests please contact:

Christian Freund (Facility head): c.m.a.h.freund@lumc.nl (Tue-Fri)
Christiaan Arendzen (Senior Technician/PhD candidate): c.h.arendzen@lumc.nl (Mon, Wed-Fri)
Babet van der Vaart (Senior researcher): b.van_der_vaart@lumc.nl

Leiden hiPSC Centre visiting address

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