Biomedical research depends on the use of model systems to explore basic biology, probe disease mechanisms, and conduct drug discovery and development. However, results from such systems are often not recapitulated in man. This observation has led us to adopt the principle that a biomedical researcher should select a model system with the greatest physiological relevance to human physiology (or pathophysiology) that is technical and economically feasible for a given project. For early stage neuroscience and CNS drug discovery studies, human neurons derived from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs) can meet this need. They can replace animal cells and immortalized human cell lines, which have limited predictive power to drive research in the right direction. This presentation will provide an overview of the technology used to create iPSC-derived neurons and describe some of the characteristics of these neurons. We will also discuss examples of how these neurons can be used in research applications, with a particular emphasis on drug discovery.
