Objective

Recent studies have indicated at a relationship between microglia and neurodegenerative disease, in particular with the expression of TREM2, CD33 and GBA.  Modelling microglia in vitro may provide important insights into the mechanism behind the association of this brain resident cell type, with neural health and neurodegenerative disease.  Using iPSC technology it is possible to differentiate human iPSCs to microglia-like cells, this technology overcomes the ethical and supply issues associated with using human primary microglia and facilitates new discoveries in the area of microglial biology. Here we describe the differentiation of human iPSCs using a robust and highly consistent methodology, to produce large numbers of microglia-like cells for use in basic biological research and drug discovery.  We describe data on cell surface expression profiles, IL1β activation and phagocytosis.  Censo’s human Microglia-like cells have been characterised and are available for clients to use in drug discovery projects.