glia by examining how both rodent and human neuronal cells influence microglia phenotype and function, both in vitro and in vivo. As expected, iMGLs gene profiles shift toward a neuronal-centric phenotype and respond appropriately to injury in 3D cell culture and beta-amyloid plaques in AD transgenic mice brains. Together, our fully-defined protocol yields highly-pure microglia-like cells that provide a platform to investigate human microglia function for a broad range of CNS development, homeostatic function, and neurological diseases applications. While the validation of iMGLs as microglia surrogates raised several new and exciting questions related to microglia biology in development, health and disease, this new renewable resource will allow for those questions to be further addressed by the field.
