What is hPSCreg^®?

See here.

Why register cell lines?

See here.

What is registered?

See here.

What is a standard hPSCreg^® name?

A hPSCreg^® name is assigned to each registered cell line. It is a unique identifier to unambiguously identify a specific hPSC-line throughout diverse resources, publications and databases. More information can be found here and in our publication A Standard Nomenclature for Referencing and Authentication of Pluripotent Stem Cells.

What is a BioSamples ID?

A BioSamples ID is an identifier, which is widely used for biological datasets. It allows to link these datasets when they belong to the same origin, for example a donor of an iPSC-line. BioSamples IDs are used by EBI, NCBI and RIKEN.

What is a hPSCreg^® certificate?

The hPSCreg^® certificate for a hPSC-line is provided, when evidence is provided to hPSCreg^® showing that a set of minimal ethical and scientific standards are met by the line. The ethical standards include documentation of informed consent procedures for the donation of the source material used for derivation of the hPSC-line. Scientific standards include the documented testing of a line’s pluripotency using established and accepted assays. The hPSCreg^® cell line certificate is essential for some funding agencies. For example, the hPSCreg^® certificate is essential for the use of a hPSC-line in research funded by the European Union.

Project certificates are provided for research projects registered at hPSCreg^®.

How can I obtain a cell line certificate?

Already issued certificates from cell lines can be downloaded on the cell line page (for example WAe009-A). If you want to acquire a new certificate, please contact us. Please note, that in order to acquire a cell line certificate, all mandatory information must be given and the cell line must have been validated. Furthermore, we require evidence of pluripotency and a copy of the donor consent form. Please feel free to contact us, if you have further questions.

How can I obtain a project certificate?

If your project has already been provided with a certificate, you can download it on the edit page of the project. If you want to acquire a new certificate, please contact us. Please note, that in order to acquire a project certificate, all project registration fields must be given.

What/who is a generator?

The generator is the institution that generated the cell line. It is not an individual person. Example: A cell line was generated at PSC-University by Dr. Yaka. Consequently the cell line’s generator is the PSC-University and the contact person is Dr. Yaka. The generator of a subclone cell line may differ from the institution that generated this cell line. Each generator must chose an acronym. The generator acronym becomes integral part of the standard name / identifier of all lines registered from that generator. For subclone the acronym of the parental cell line is chosen for the name.

What/who is a distributor?

The distributor is the institution that distributes or sells the cell lines.The distributor may be the same as the generator or owner, but it can also be a different institution such as a cell line bank or a company.

What/who is an owner?

The owner is the person/institution who owns the property rights for the cell line.

What is a subclone?

A subclone in hPSCreg^® is a derivative of a specific parental cell line. A subclone is distinct from the parental line because it carries a stable defined genetic modification, which was induced (e.g. transgene) or occurred spontaneously (e.g. mutation) in the parental line. Naturally, parental line and subclone have the same human donor.

How do I register a new cell line?

1. After logging in, you can go to your dashboard and select Register cell line.
2. Choose the generator from the list or create a new generator (see How do I register a new institution?).
3. Choose the type of the cell line (hESC or hiPSC).
4. If the cell line is a subclone of another cell line or other cell lines from the same source material have already registered, select the respective cell line from the drop down list.
5. You should add alternative names like the name you used for your cell line.
6. You can add additional comments for other editors and the validator.
7. After clicking on finish, the line will be registered and a standardized cell line name will be created. Further details can and should be added when editing the cell line.

How can I register a subclone (see above) that I have made, which was derived from a parental clone that was generated by a different institution?

1. After logging in, you can go to your dashboard and select Register cell line.
2. Choose the generator (your institution) from the list or create a new generator (see How do I register a new institution?).
3. Choose the type of the cell line (hESC or hiPSC).
4. For the question Does a cell line from the same donor exist?, select Yes and then pick This cell line is a subclone of another stem cell line.
5. For the other cell line choose from the drop-down list the name of the parental cell line.
6. You should add alternative names like the name you used for your cell line.
7. After clicking on finish, the line will be registered and a standardized cell line name will be created. The acronym of the parental institution will be part of the name.
8. Please enter additional data by clicking added/edited or by selecting your cell line in the Dashboard

How do I get a login for hPSCreg^® to register or modify a line?

Go to the hPSCreg^® homepage (https://hpscreg.eu/). Click the login icon at the top right and click ‘sign up’. Follow the instructions.

I forgot my password. What can I do?

Enter the e-mail address you used to register at hESCreg.eu here. You will get an email which allows you to set a new password.

How can I get access to register lines for an already registered institution?

1. After logging in, you can go to your dashboard and select My institutions.
2. There you have two possibilities: Find and assign institution and Register and assign a new institution.
3. Click on Find and assign institution.
4. A list appears where you can search for your institution.
5. You can leave a comment for the administrating registrants of the institution to explain, why you need access to the institution.
6. After clicking on Assign institution, the hPSCreg^® administrating registrants for this institution will be informed about your request and can accept or decline it.
7. If you don’t get an answer within three days, please contact us.

Who is the hPSCreg^® administrating registrant of an institution?

Usually, the person registering a new institution becomes per default the hPSCreg^® administrating registrant of that institution. The hPSCreg^® administrating registrant can accept or decline access requests from other users. The institutional hPSCreg^® administrating registrant can also appoint additional institutional hPSCreg^® administrating registrants, or withdraw as hPSCreg^® administrating registrant. However, each registered institution must have at least one hPSCreg^® administrating registrant.

How do I register a new institution?

1. If you can’t find your institution in the list of already registered institutions (See How can I get access to register lines for an already registered institution?) you can register a new institution.
2. After logging in, you can go to your dashboard and select My institutions.
3. There you have two possibilities: Find and assign institution and Register and assign a new institution.
4. Click on Register and assign a new institution.
5. Enter the name and address data.
6. You can also optionally select a higher-level institution or company , e.g. "University of Springfield", if your institution is a sub-institution like "Institute for Stem Cell Research" or a laboratory like ‘Embryology Lab’. The higher-level institution need to be registered first.
7. You have to select a generator acronym for the institution if you want to register cell lines for this institution. Institutions without acronym can not be used as generator.
8. After submission, you are the administrating registrant of the institution and can register cell lines for this institution.

What is a generator acronym?

A generator acronym is a unique institutional code of 2-6 (uppercase) letters. Each (sub)institution registering cell lines can self-assign an acronym. Only institutions having such an acronym can be set as generator for a new cell line. The acronym must be unique in hPSCreg^®. Even subinstutitions are not allowed to have the same acronym as their parent institution.

The generator acronym is an integral part of the hPSCreg^® standard name / unique identifier. More information can be found here and in our publication A Standard Nomenclature for Referencing and Authentication of Pluripotent Stem Cells You can set the parental institution as the generator to use the corresponding acronym and set your subinstitution as the contact institution.

How do I register a publication?

1. After logging in, you can go to your dashboard and select Register publication.
2. You can add the publication using a pubmed, PMC or DOI.
3. Or you can enter the publication data manually.
4. Registered cell lines and research projects can be assigned to the publication.

How do I register a research project?

1. After logging in, you can go to your dashboard and select Register project.
2. Add title, acronym, summary, a link to the webpage of the project, start and end date.
3. You can select a sponsor for the project from the list or enter a new one.
4. Add an institution to the project (see also How do I register a new institution?).
5. Add contact details of the project investigator or use your own account data.
6. Decide whether contact details should be public.
7. Assign cell lines you are going to use in your project.
8. Save the data

When will my cell lines become public?

Directly after the registration the name of the cell line, the generator institution, alternative name(s), the cell line type, date of the last update and potential user feedback will be visible. All other data will not be shown on the public page until the cell line has been submitted by the user. Only when all mandatory fields have been given, the line can be validated by hPSCreg^®. Validation is a check for completeness of data provision. For validated cell lines all information, except information that has been marked as private, is shown on the public cell line page.

How can I provide feedback for a cell line?

Registered hPSCreg^® users can give public feedback, like experiences or results within the research community, for each cell line. When logged in, you can provide comments directly within the cell line details page in the General section.

What are mandatory information for cell line registration?

Minimal information for cell line registration includes:

• Documentation of ethical provenance of the cells according to national regulation
• Evidence for pluripotency of the cell
• Principal availability of the cell line for research

A detailed list of mandatory information can be found in this document.