Stem Cell Sciences [ASX: STC] has been granted a UK Patent Office patent for the company's new range of stem cell culture media.

The patent covers the company's Culticell iSTEM range, which contains a combination of enzyme inhibitors. The range is based on technology described in Nature recently by stem cell research pioneer Professor Austin Smith, now at Cambridge University, who is chair of the company's scientific advisory board.

Smith discovered that with the inhibition of key enzymes in specific combinations it is possible to produce pluripotent stem cells without feeder cells, growth factors, leukaemia inhibitory factor or serum.

The patent covers every use of the media, including use of the media for cultivating stem cells.