Optical reprogramming with ultrashort femtosecond laser pulses

The use of sub-15 femtosecond laser pulses in stem cell research is explored with particular emphasis on the optical reprogramming of somatic cells. The reprogramming of somatic cells into induced pluripotent stem (iPS) cells can be evoked through the ectopic expression of defined transcription factors(1-3). Conventional approaches utilize retro/lenti-viruses to deliver genes/transcription factors as well as to facilitate the integration of transcription factors into that of the host genome. However, the use of viruses may result in insertional mutations caused by the random integration of genes and as a result, this may limit the use within clinical applications due to the risk of the formation of cancer(4). In this study, a new approach is demonstrated in realizing non-viral reprogramming through the use of ultrashort laser pulses, to introduce transcription factors into the cell so as to generate iPS cells.