Establishment of the Saudi Bank of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (SBiPSCs): A National Platform for iPSC-Based Research and Therapy

Hosawi, M.; Baadhaim, M.; AlShehri, M.; Herrera-Lopez, G.; Ramirez, G.; Fadaili, Y.; Zakri, S.; Haneef, A.; Hakami, F.; Alamoudi, D.; Alhusayni, N.; Aljahdali, L.; Aljuid, L.; Magbouli, A.; Alkhatabi, H.; Makkawi, S.; Attar, A.; Jawdat, D.; Alaskar, A.; Gomez-Cabrero, D.; Magistretti, P.; Tegner, J.; Alowaysi, M.; Alsayegh, K.

doi:10.64898/2026.01.22.700942

Home/Archive/bioRxiv

bioRxiv · 10.64898/2026.01.22.700942

Establishment of the Saudi Bank of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (SBiPSCs): A National Platform for iPSC-Based Research and Therapy

View original source ↗Export metadata ↓

Abstract

BackgroundThe global landscape of induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) resources remains heavily skewed toward European, North American, and East Asian populations, leaving the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region critically underrepresented. This disparity hinders the application of precision medicine in populations with unique genetic backgrounds, particularly those with high rates of consanguinity and distinctive rare disease profiles. To address this gap, we established the Saudi Bank of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (SBiPSCs), at King Abdullah International Medical Research Centre (KAIMRC). The bank comprises two major complementary arms: one dedicated to the derivation and biobanking of iPSCs from individuals with rare and common genetic disorders, and a second focused on Human Leukocyte Antigen (HLA)-based iPSC banking to support the development of immunocompatible cell therapies. MethodsSBiPSCs operates within King Abdulaziz Medical City in Jeddah under the Ministry of National Guard for Health Affairs (MNGHA)s ethical and clinical framework. To establish the repository, we implemented a clinic-guided enrolment strategy in which treating physicians, briefed on the banks objectives, recruited patients with confirmed genetic diagnoses. Peripheral blood samples were collected, processed, and cells were reprogrammed using non-integrating episomal plasmids. All derived lines underwent rigorous quality control in accordance with International Society for Stem Cell Research (ISSCR) standards, including assessment of pluripotency markers, genomic integrity, and trilineage differentiation potential. To demonstrate our iPS characterization workflow and translational utility, iPSCs from a Saudi patient with familial Long QT Syndrome (LQTS) and a healthy sibling were differentiated into functional cardiac organoids. Simultaneously, for the HLA-based banking arm, the Saudi Stem Cell Donor Registry (SSCDR) database was leveraged to identify donors predicted to provide maximal coverage for the Saudi population. ResultsTo date, SBiPSCs has successfully generated 37 iPSC lines derived from 19 Saudi patients and healthy donors. All lines exhibit robust expression of pluripotency markers, maintain normal karyotypes, and demonstrate differentiation capacity. To demonstrate our characterization pipeline and translational utility, iPSCs from an LQTS patient and a healthy sibling were generated, validated, and differentiated into beating cardiac organoids that recapitulated the disease phenotype, with microelectrode array analysis confirming prolonged field potential durations mirroring the clinical QT prolongation. Furthermore, the HLA-based banking arm has expanded to include two homozygous iPSC lines, which together provide immunological compatibility for approximately 9% of the Saudi population. ConclusionsSBiPSCs represents the first centralized iPSC repository in the MENA region. The SBiPSCs is well-positioned to accelerate the translation of stem cell research into scalable, immunocompatible cell therapies and precision medicine applications aligned with national and regional healthcare priorities.

Explore related subjects

genetics Preprint

Keep this discovery

Explore connections, maps & timelines

BibTeX RIS

Hosawi, M., Baadhaim, M., AlShehri, M., Herrera-Lopez, G., Ramirez, G., Fadaili, Y., Zakri, S., Haneef, A., Hakami, F., Alamoudi, D., Alhusayni, N., Aljahdali, L., Aljuid, L., Magbouli, A., Alkhatabi, H., Makkawi, S., Attar, A., Jawdat, D., Alaskar, A., Gomez-Cabrero, D., Magistretti, P., Tegner, J., Alowaysi, M., Alsayegh, K.. 2026-01-24. Establishment of the Saudi Bank of Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (SBiPSCs): A National Platform for iPSC-Based Research and Therapy. https://doi.org/10.64898/2026.01.22.700942

Cite the original work for its findings. Save a collection to share your selection of sources.

KEEP EXPLORING

Related preprints

bioRxiv2026

Pangenome Discoveries from Clinical Long-Read Genomes in Underrepresented Populations with Neurodevelopmental Disorders

Genetic diagnoses remain elusive for many individuals with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDDs), and the gap is wider in populations poorly represented in genomic reference resources. To demonstrate the equitable advantage of long-read whole genome sequencing (LR-WGS) and pangenomes in terms of clinical utility, we analyzed 211 NDD cases and 107 unaffected relatives from 24 populations, integrating their assemblies, resulting in a total of 1204 haplotypes with the Human Pangenome Reference Consortium Release 2 (HPRC_r2) and the Arab Pangenome Reference (APR) datasets. Clinical interpretation of small variants and structural variants (SVs) revealed pathogenic or likely pathogenic findings in 38.9% of the cases (82/211), and our workflow further detected pathogenic repeat expansions in 3.8% of the cases and runs of homozygosity (ROHs) exceeding 300 Mb in 4.7% of the cases, revealing substantial autozygosity suggestive of strong inbreeding. Beyond these clinical assessments, pangenome analysis revealed 3.9 million population-level novel small variants, 39,782 SVs and an average of 2.17 Mb of novel sequence per individual absent from linear references and global pangenomes. We identified 85.9 kb of case-unique nonreference sequences in exonic segments overlapping with curated NDD gene sets. Graph-based tertiary analysis further identified rare exonic complex homozygous rearrangements in the NDD associated genes for 2.4% of the cases. Together, these findings emphasize how diverse genome assemblies extend variant discovery beyond established linear reference-based clinical interpretation.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2026

Integrated exome-transcriptome analysis of a schizophrenia case with an exceptionally low polygenic risk score

Schizophrenia liability reflects both common polygenic variation and rarer variants of larger effect. We investigated a post-mortem schizophrenia case (SZ07) with a schizophrenia polygenic risk score below the first percentile among ancestry-matched cases, asking whether individual-level genomic and transcriptomic analyses could help identify potentially novel schizophrenia-relevant variants. We used exome analysis with multiple variant-prediction tools to generate a panel of variants and corresponding candidate genes potentially implicated in the pathological process in SZ07. The prioritised variants were then assessed using RNA sequencing of three cortical regions. Of these, only an IZUMO4 splice-acceptor variant showed direct RNA-level support. Beyond variant-specific analyses, we characterised broader transcriptomic abnormalities in the SZ07 brain. Pathway analysis of gene-level expression deviations implicated innate immune processes, calcium signalling, synaptic biology, and axon remodelling. Notably, compared with conventional single-sample biological pathway analysis, the analysis we used showed only a weak association with neuronal specificity, suggesting their reduced sensitivity to the main axis of variation related to cellular composition in bulk brain tissue gene expression data. Although the candidate genes showed no significant pathway-level convergence, the broader transcriptomic profile revealed coherent biological alterations largely compatible with the documented history of cerebrovascular disease in SZ07. These results demonstrate how the integration of exome and transcriptome data at the individual level enables the formulation and constraint of hypotheses regarding patient-specific genetic features and their molecular consequences, while highlighting important limitations related to tissue composition, comorbidity, and the choice of reference cohort.

genetics↗

bioRxiv2026

A genetic screen to identify host factors required for commensal bacterial adherence to the gut epithelia

Bacterial adherence to gut epithelial cells likely involves host genetic components. We isolated a gut commensal bacterium, Lelliottia jeotgali, that can robustly colonize C. elegans through attachment to intestinal epithelial cells. Here, we developed a novel screen in C. elegans to identify host genes required for microbiome bacterial colonization. Using transgenic L. jeotgali strain expressing tdTomato, we conducted forward genetic screens in C. elegans to select for mutants that completely lost colonization. We identified multiple allelic mutations in five different C. elegans genes, termed knockout of Lelliottia adherence (kola) mutants, with a near complete loss of adherence. Each of kola-1-5 is uncharacterized and predicted to encode for a secreted or membrane-bound protein. We also identified gly-5, a GalNAc transferase that initiates O-linked glycosylation. Overall, we describe the first C. elegans screen to identify host factors that control microbiome bacterial colonization in the gut.

genetics↗