Differentiation of human embryonic stem cells into hematopoietic cells by coculture with human fetal liver cells recapitulates the globin switch that occurs early in development

FH-B-hTERT can induce hESCs differentiation into hematopoietic cells more efficiently than S17. In vitro differentiation of hESCs recapitulates the ɛ-globin to γ-globin switch but not the γ-globin to β-globin switch that occurs around birth. This experimental system will be useful for studying the regulation of globin gene expression during early human hematopoiesis.