Our understanding of how cells work would not be possible without the isolation and manipulation of cells removed from living organisms. This type of work is known as ex vivo (“out of the living”) experimentation. Using ex vivo cells and tissues to study normal human biology, disease, and development enables investigators to perform tests and measurements that would not be possible or ethical using live subjects.
There are several ways cells can be used ex vivo (Figure 1). Among the most common and productive model systems for understanding human cells are immortalized cells grown in culture [1]. While immortalized cells have been useful for basic research, advances in the last decade have given scientists unprecedented power to use ex vivo cells for cell based therapeutic research. For example, T cells can be isolated and manipulated to express novel chimeric antigen receptors [2]. These are known as CAR T cells, and they can target cancer-specific antigens for cancer immunotherapy. Researchers have identified a set of genes that, when expressed in isolated differentiated cells, can reprogram the cells to become undifferentiated stem cells [3]. These so-called induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can be reprogrammed to become a cell type that is unrelated to the starting isolate. Studies of iPSCs have great potential to provide insight into differentiation mechanisms and allow pathways to therapies for certain pathologies.
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