iPSC biobanks can provide powerful material for modeling human diseases and regenerative cell therapies. However, the absence of systematic molecular and functional studies of iPSC lines generated from different genetic backgrounds and cell types of origin has hampered reprogramming efforts for large-scale biobanking purposes. In particular, the omission of blood cells prevents leveraging the resources of numerous biorepositories that have collected blood cells for human genetic, metabolic, and related studies. In this study we examined whether comparable iPSC line collections can be established from fibroblasts and blood. To address issues of donor genetic background and cell type of origin, we produced genetically matched iPSC lines from fibroblasts and blood from several donors and thoroughly investigated their transcriptional and epigenetic status, as well as their spontaneous and multi-lineage hematopoietic differentiation potential.
